roots

Bon Camino

2012-01-27T14:09:00.001+01:00

Me, on my way

Track of the excursion (view in bigger size)

It all started watching the movie The Way.
The plot is not a big deal, i believe, but it shows wonderful scenic landscapes around the path of Camino de Santiago. At the end one feels inclined to take the same adventure.
The movie, in my opinion, focuses the true spirit of a pilgrimage, whidh is not simply a journey to a destination. Yes, we need one destination is needed, otherwise we would miss a reason to travel. The real significance, however, is not to be searched in what you reach, but in the path itself to reach it, as death is not the purpose of our lives, but only a phase, albeit important. Somebody say, although without any proof, that for an immortal life has no reason.
The movie describes a pilgrimage along the "French Way" (one of the variants of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela), strictly by foot.
The entire route is about 800km long. Assuming you divide it into 40 daily stages, each stage is 20km long on average.
Who likes mountain hikings (the first stages of the journey crosses the Pyrenees) knows that the difficulty cannot be simply measured in kilometers, so it is difficult to say whether 20km in length are easily overcome. The only way to decide is to try.

No sooner said than done.

Since we live in the mountains, and the difficulty of the roads and trails in these parts seems more or less similar to those shown in the film, one day, more precisely last 1st October, map in hand, we planned a circular route about 20km long, starting from our home.
The first part is on the asphalted road, on the route described here until you get to take the path described here that reaches the peak of mount Tesoro. This is the highest point

Break for a sandwich

of the entire route, and here begins the descent. You follow the path until you find the road at Forcella Alta, the starting point of pass Pertüs excursion, but here, instead of going straight, you follow the asphalted road downhill. A few hundred meters further, it becomes a white road. Traffic is blocked except for authorized vehicles. Here you follow for Boccio, until you come to a small church, where we stopped to eat a sandwich. Shortly after you turn towards Colle di Sogno on a path pretty flat which looses among the fields (in fact we got lost and we were forced to retrace our steps and to ask for directions to some suspicious residents: it looks it's not very common here to see other human beings). Here we enter a beautiful trail in the woods, a little ups and downs, and we arrive to Colle di Sogno, a small mountain stone village, with narrow pedestrian alleys. There is a tavern where we stopped to buy a bottle of water, as our reserves wew already exhausted long before. The locanda looks cozy and with tasty food: we mark the intention to visit again in the future. After crossing Colle di Sogno, we reach a small parking lot, which is the limit of the asphalted road if you come by car the opposite way. We follow that road. From here a long panoramic descent crosses Sogno village, and reaches the junction with the road to our house. One last short climb, and we get home.

We are very tired, yes, but it's not that terrible. Our dogs are truly exhousted. If we decide to actually do the Camino de Santiago we have to leave them at home. Paradoxically, the paved road for them is even harder, because it is abrasive to their feet. Moreover, Spain does not seem very dog-friendly. The hostels along the Camino, for understandable reasons, do not host dogs. Only a few of them allow you

View from Forcella Alta

to tie them in the yard, but this solution, especially for the unsociable Mr. Bentley, is not really feasible. Finally, man's best friends are not accepted on public transport, and then, once we arrive to Santiago, we would not know how to return to the starting point.
The insurmountable problem, however, seems to be the time (isn't it a paradox, talking about a pilgrimage?). At now, I don't have the opportunity to take 40 days off or, considering the time needed to reach the starting point and to go home, even more, not counting any unpredictable event that may happen during the journey.
Therefore, unfortunately this is a dream to keep in a drawer, until I'll be able to completely change life style.
One can plan to make only a part of the whole Camino, or to make the whole of it dividing it in parts. But it would not have the same significance. They say that even the latest stages are a little less compelling just because a lot of people join only for those stages, just for the satisfaction of saying they reached the goal. I think this is proof they didn't understand anything.

The route is quite easy, but pretty long: 23km in total (14mi), the difference of level is about 2500 feet, and we took 7.5 hours.

Da Bus

2011-12-30T08:56:00.000+01:00

It is a cliche that the Hawaiian tourism is a somehow elitish. In fact, given the location in the middle of the ocean (the islands are quite distant from anywhere one arrives), the feeling is something exotic. From California it takes five hours by plane, so, it is not exactly cheap just to get there. Not to mention the cost in terms of time and money, if you come from Italy!
Therefore, if you land to Honolulu, what you find is a type of tourism a little snob, walking into shopping streets, tanning at Waikiki beach. In the traffic many limousines can be seen.

Instead, the Kaua'i island is a bit apart from the typical touristic Hawaiian destinations. And the most common public transport is The Kaua'i Bus, familiarly Da Bus (slang for "the Bus").
Unfortunately, if these buses are used by residents, we can not say the same for tourists. I suggest to all those who go on vacation to Kaua'i to ride them, because they are comfortable, cheap, efficient and you can experience better the local customs.

The service, atleast for the trips I have experienced, is very good. Always on time and with frequent departures.
Of course cars are more comfortable, since the bus has to respect the schedule and it takes time for the intermediate stops. But it does not force you to pay attention to driving and you can concentrate on the landscape outside the windows.
The fixed cost of a ride (no matter how long it is) is two dollars (not exactly cheap, if it is a short distance, but very convenient if you consider that you can run around the island). You don't need to buy a ticket before, you just put the money in a box next to the driver. Much more convenient, as we did, is to buy a pass that entitles you unlimited use of all the lines for a month for $25.
In the town of Lihue there are a few lines that make urban service, including there is one funnily named "Lunch Shuttle", scheduledin the hours around noon. It stops at the most common restaurants/fast-food (I imagine that it is used by workers in their lunch break).
Out of Lihue the lines make both urban and suburban service. They go on the highway and make frequent detours in the residential areas, reaching hospitals, schools, shopping centers and places of public utility.

The nice thing of Da Bus is the friendliness of the service. Often the driver use to chat with passengers. Once I heard him singing along with the radio on "It's aloha friday, no work till monday", a very common Hawaiian pop song, and then, addressing the passengers screaming "This is my song, friends!" Happy at the thought of the weekend starting soon. Another typical driver was the one that took us a couple of times in Poipu: a "grandma" with a hat adorned with cute little flowers, driving so slow despite the nearly empty streets. At each stop she announced its name, even if we were the only two passengers, and she knew our destination (they ask, sometimes, for statistical purposes).

Even the passengers are generally relaxed and friendly (what a big difference with Milan underground!), And never fail to greet when they enter, and thank the driver when they exit. There is ervery kind of people: the boy and the girl flirting, the guy dressed like Michael Jackson trying to attract attention, the businessman who does leave the cellphone alone, the grandpa who smiles to everybody who meet his gaze. In any case, most times you end up chatting with someone you meet on Da Bus or at the bus stop before boarding, as if there was some kind of brotherhood among all those who use Da Bus.

It would be nice if the service worked even at night, so one could use it for the nights out. Also, i think the lines should be enhanced to some destinations, for example, there is no bus that goes up to the mountain (that could be because the towns are almost all connected by the highway that runs on the perimeter of the island).

In general the service is very good for the destinations of the locals, but not enough for the tourists. The beautiful Poipu beach, for example, which is on a detour from the highway, has its own line, but the trips are not frequent enough, which forces you to spend a lot of time waiting for the bus.
One thing I find objectionable is the custom to keep the air conditioning at high level. It's advisable to bring something extra to erar, in consideration that, outside, you are always in shorts and T-shirt.
In the front of the bus it is arranged a rack that can hold up to two bicycles. This service (i think for free) is frequently used: the cyclist secures the bike and then rises on the bus. I wonder if you have to reserve this service in advance by calling Da Bus people (if not, what could happen if there are more than two cyclists on the same trip?). Of course the buses are equipped with a lift for handicaps and spaces to accommodate wheelchairs.
The service is perfectly sized (I think this is the reason for the statistics I mentioned above): The seats are often all occupied, but it rarely happens that someone has to stand. Only once it happened to me, during students rush hour, a trip was crowded (but nothingcomparable to public services in our cities).

In short, if you appreciate the atmosphere of calm and comfortable relaxation you can breathe in Kaua'i, Da Bus is the best way to visit the island.

Also for this post, the photos are by Rowena

Tropical hiking

2011-12-20T15:24:00.002+01:00

Hiking in Hawaii is definitely a different experience for those like me, accustomed to Alpine mountain trails.
First of all, the climate. The humid heat makes movements more strenuous. Also, the paths tend to be covered by the quite intrusive tropical vegetation: the undergrowth ferns hides the tracks and make it a little disorienting. Also the rocks are hidden by vegetation, so the painted signs, if any, cannot be seen. Moreover there is not a valuable service such as CAI (Club Alpino Italiano) who maintains trails and markers.
Fortunately the hikers theirselves put and renew indications with colored ribbons tied to the branches every now and then.

GPS track of Honopu excursion.
View the map in a bigger size

Honopu ridge, October 16, 2011

The signaling ribbons (orange and pink) were indeed very useful during the first of our two trips into Kaua'i island. R's son and his girlfriend came with us

Reached the beginning of the path by car, we followed the directions outlined here. You enter the forest, which, in descent, becomes more and more intricate. At one point the path becomes very humid and you end up slipping.
When the forest opens you are on the edge of a steep slope especially, pretty easy to overcome if not for people like me, who have an innate dislike of the precipices. Fortunately it's only a small part, and finally you go back into the forest. At the end the view over the beautiful coastline of Na Pali is breathtaking.

View from the end point

To tell teh truth, from here, the beach (about 3500 feet below), cannot be seen. But you see the side promontory that forms, along with the one under your feet, one of the magnificent Na Pali bays. Within the valley one expects to see emerging from the vegetation the necks of the brachiosauruses, which, exactly here, have been the protagonists of Jurassic Park. Instead, you can see the birds (they are actually just tiny white dots). Every now and then, far below, a touristic helicopter passes, barely visible. Other white dots in the ocean must be boats (the beaches in the small bays below are inaccessible from the land).
You are on the crest of the hill so, looking to the other side the view opens up to another valley. In the distance it appears Ni'ihau island, the Forbidden Island.
From here the path goes down rather steep (and apparently not very safe), always on the crest. It does not seem to promise a better view of this. Satisfied and aware that the return is quite all uphill, we head back onto the same path.

GPS track of Makaleha excursion (the inaccuracies are due
to the bad satellite receptions in the forest)
View the map in a bigger size

Makaleha Falls, October 17, 2011

Also interesting, though completely different, was the other excursion.
This time, in addition to the four of us, there were also R's brother and sisters, with their husbands. The guide was D, the brother, which had already come here long ago. The path goes up folloowing a stream, and has several river-crossings and parts with slimy mud. Warned in time by D, we have adapted our equipment to these conditions. Hiking boots were not right: we then purchased the "Tabies", special rubber boots, flexible, with soles thick but soft and covered with a layer of a material similar to velcro. Without this type of footwear it is impossible not to slip. In addition, the adhesion of the rubber to the ankle, similar to the one of a diving suit, helps to lift the foot when it is stuck in the mud.

Ford

The route is varied, almost always surrounded by dense forest. At some point it passes very close to a huge monolith shaped like a cube, which looks like a dice fallen from the hands of a giant. Then suddenly you enter a surreal place: a bamboo forest. The canes, huge and high, take the place of trees, leaving, between each other, enough space to unravel. A few hundred meters, and just as suddenly, the vegetation of ferns and tall trees reasserts itself. Here the trail is lost, even if it is not difficult to guess the direction, as you continue to follow the course of the river. But your must walk on the trunks of fallen trees or branches, covered with slippery moss, clinging to other branches or rocks to keep balance. You can not see the dirt, the vegetation is too intricate, but judging from the level of the water, you are about one-two meters from the ground.
The humidity is a lot, and after a few hours of walk, it turns into rain. The weather suddenly changes in the islands, so we judge that it is much safer to retrace our steps. Too bad, because D says that in the end of the path (another couple of miles) there is a pond where you can take a shower under the waterfall.

Wonderful excursions. When you go to Hawaii for vacation, you think about beaches and ocean waves, but in my opinion, especially in Kaua'i, the Garden Isle, it is the haunting beauty of the untouched interior to leave you breathless.

There is something intimate in the experience of walking in nature, and it was nice to share it with my in-laws. It feels as if this experiences created a bond among us.

Me, in the bamboo forest.

All the photos of this post are by Rowena

Sit down, relax, eat, eat, eat...

2011-11-21T11:26:00.005+01:00

That is a welcome expression Hawaiians like to use. Even there, as in our culture, food has a social value, but the meal has a different look. The difference lies in "geometry". In Italy we eat all sitting around the table together (it is even considered rude to start eating when anybody is not yet ready). In Hawaii (and, I believe, generally in the States), the buffet style is more common. Everyone serve him/herself filling up his dish. It is not uncommon that not to have a table at all. Everybody eats the way he wants: standing, sitting on chairs or armchairs, allowing the events to make big or small groups for conversation.

Luau
Luau is a word in the native Hawaiian language which means more or less "party". The spirit is to meet somewhere to share the pleasure of being together. Traditionally, the guests bring the food which is then shared among each other.

The luau I attended during my Hawaiian holidays was organized in the Community Center, to celebrate of my wife R's family reunion.
All the close relatives of the families originated from the defunct R's grandmother were invited. We were about two hundred: a success, given that most of those relatives are distributed pretty much all over the world.

The most typical character of the party was Patty Boy, a cousin of uncertain age with long bushy white hair collected in a ponytail. Deep and loud voice. When we arrived, together

The Luau dinner

with my sister in law and her husband, Patty Boy immediately ran towards R's sister (who lives in Washington State) embracing her with a hearty "Welcome to my cos from Italy". When we notified him the mistake, he repeated the same formula for R, and hugged me warmly shouting "Thank you for taking care of my cos".
Patty Boy, as a gesture of welcome, put on my neck a ti leaves lei, and responding to my "i am honored" he didn't loose the opportunity to point out (perhaps with excessive pathos) how lucky we were to live this occasion to strengthen our family unity.
I think Patty Boy embodies at all, almost as a caricature, the totally sincere welcoming spirit of Hawai'i.

The dinner was arranged on a long table with large trays, pans and serving dishes. Our contribution couldn't be anything but some typical Italian food: we filled a considerable number of cannoli shells with sweet fresh ricotta and candied fruit. The result was not bad at all, in fact they disappeared in few minutes.

Kalua pig

The Kalua pig preparation

The most typical food of the table was the kalua pig.
This is the native Hawaiian way to cook the pig: once wrapped an entire pig in banana leaves they bury it in a hole in the ground in which some hot stones were put. The pig is then covered with hot stones and sand. After a considerable amount of time they take put the sand and stones and unwrap the pork form the banana leaves, ready-cooked.
We were fortunate to be able to assist in the preparation of kalua pig with methods a little more "evolved". The pork was wrapped in banana leaves and aluminum foil and placed in a metal cage. The cage was sittinh on hot stones in the hole, and everything was covered with wet rags and a special plastic sheet. We have come to the place of preparation during the afternoon, when the kalua pig was being "unburied", and we had the opportunity to taste it still hot.

Poke

Typically, the kalua pig is accompanied by the poi, which is like a gray-pink and sweet taste puree, made out of taro, a tropical root. The poi must be eaten picking it up from a bowl with two fingers ("two fingahs")

Poke
Another typical way of eating in Hawaii is the poke. It is a snack, rather than lunch or dinner. The poke is sold in the deli of small supermarkets, supplied directly from local fishermen, as it happens in Hishihara market.

The chef at Chicken in a Barrel

The fish is cut into "bite size" cubes and marinated in spices and sauces. It is usually eaten with chopsticks.

Chicken in a Barrel
An enjoyable experience is to have lunch at little banquets on the roadside by the sea. Chicken in a Barrel is one of them.

Saimin

A single character with cowboy hat accepts orders from a window in a wooden small house, cook the chicken on a barbecue made out of a barrel and serves at tables arranged on the lawn surrounding area.

Saimin
Hawai'i islands are a repository of traditions brought there by immigrants from different places at different stages of history. Great is the Japanese community, so, popular is the cooking from Japan. One of my favorite places is Kintaro japanese restaurant, where I tasted the best sushi of my (limited) experience. But anytime i go to Kaua'i i never miss to go atleast once to Hamura Saimin. The saimin, the restaurants and the operators are very similar to those described in the movie The Ramen Girl. "Saimin", in fact, is the Hawaiian name of the ramen. The menu is rather limited, but no matter. The only order that makes sense over there is, in fact, the saimin.

All the photos of this post are from R's blog: http://rubbahslippahsinitaly.blogspot.com/

Deja-vu...?

2011-10-28T16:00:00.001+02:00

What strikes you, As soon as you exit the plane at Lihue airport, is a strong sense of deja vu.
Actually, no. Deja vu is not the correct expression in this case, because, one could argue, it would be obvious that you feel you already saw a place ("deja vu") if you have already been there (and I have already been several times at the airport of Lihue).
It is rather some states of mind that you feel inside, in your lungs, in your stomach. You feel it, but you can't realize what it exactly is.
I believe that this feeling is evoked mainly by smell. Of cinnamon and ginger, but, above all, of very ripe fruits. A sweet smell, a little sticky (maybe even for the high rate of humidity). Not unpleasant at all, but very strong. It also hints of peat and fat undergrowth. The island smells very different from where i live. It almost seems to recognize something ancestral and primitive, which belongs to my genetics, but without any cultural tie, in this sense deja vu. Like it is for a lion roar: it would scare anyone, even those who had not ever heard its sound.

Kealia bay

You perceives something different also about hearing. Not the usual reverb of some sand between heels and fake-marble floors, typical in the airports, with artificial aseptic and metallic voices in the background. Here the speakers spread sugary Hawaiian melodies, the announcements always begin with aloha and end with mahalo. Everything comes a little muffled to the ears (maybe also for the warmth and moist of the air, after the air conditioning there was in the aircraft). This feeling is even increased when you exit the airport, and there is constant noise of the surf on the beaches or the waves crashing on the cliffs.

People are extraordinarily, almost irritatingly calm and quiet. With haoles (as i look - and i am) they are all very friendly. With the locals (like R) they start to speak strict pidgin seeking - and usually finding - common friends or relatives they share.
The cars move slowly and the traffic rage simply does not exist. The flow of events is not managed by clocks but instead by the availability of time of whoever is involved. Almost one wonders how it is possible that society respect schedulings designed on absolute time (eg public transport timetables).
This time we landed at night, but I like to arrive to Kaua'i during the day, because all of the sudden it offers, from the highway, some dramatic views of the mountains, similar in shape to the Dolomites, but colored with different shades of green (in the tropics vegetation is able to invade every available space). From a distance they look almost surreal, the colors a little blunt by humidity.

The best tasting food is the tropical fruit. I stuffed my face with papayas - who has never been to the tropics can not understand: the papayas we have in Italy taste like plastic, while over there they are sweet and buttery. Mangos, avocados, pineapples, star-fruits, bananas of every size and flavor, coconuts, typical macadamia nuts, lemons, limes, pomelos, passion fruits. At Kaua'i you can find wholesome and tasty goods at the farm markets (markets where fruit and vegetables are sold directly by the producers.)
And then there's the fresh fish, which is also sold in form of poke (raw fish salad dressed with sauces, spices and seaweeds, to eat with chopsticks).
Wine is unusual, but the beer flows is like rivers...
To food a specific post will be dedicated. After all, the reason (or the excuse) of our holiday over there was the participation to the typical luau, at the family reunion.

Aloha!

2011-10-26T09:09:00.003+02:00

I'm back, after a short vacation in Hawai'i. I'm still trying to absorb the 12 hours jetleg.
I'll try to describe the beautiful holidays in the next posts, but first let's start with the bad things.

Milan Linate Airport, check-in.
Do you have the ESTA? Miss Antipathy with the British Airways symbol pinned to her jacket asks.
What the hell is an ESTA? you would ask.
What the hell is an ESTA? I ask Miss Antipathy with the British Airways pinned on her jacket.
The ESTA is a kind of entry visa for the United States, to be filled online prior to departure. I will find out later that these are the same questions that once had to be filled out on a paper form on board the aircraft, such as "are you a terrorist?", "are you carrying any explosive?", "Have you ever had to deal with episodes of delinquency? "," do you have any pending with justice? ", in short, some rhetorical questions that require a negative answers (I don't think a terrorist or a criminal has any ethical problem about the sincerity in his answers).
No, I do not have the ESTA.
So, you can not leave.
Panic.
How do you make that ESTA?
You go to http://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/ and stuffed the form with all these data. Total time about one minute. Then instantly you are allowed to enter the U.S.
Piece of cake.
Yes, if only you have an Internet access, of course, otherwise where can I write the address http://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/? On a postcard?
Now, you say, it is a breeze to find an internet connection within an airport!
At Linate it is not. There is a coin-operated Internet Point, but it does not work. Maybe there is a free WiFi access i can reach with my PDA. There is not. I wonder if the CheckIn desks have internet connection, i scrap the idea: Miss Antipathy with the British Airways symbol be pinned on her jacket wouldn't be so much unpleasant not to help me!
Demoralized I decide to go to another lady (this time very nice!) at the British Airways ticket desk, to move my flight to the next day. The nice lady asks me if I can not connect to the Internet to fill that damn ESTA. Eh, no, unfortunately i can not from here. Not even at the tiket desk they have any internet connection. The only option looks to change the date. Six hundred euros and a day of holiday lost.

Okay, the day after we arrive at the airport and this time at the check in there is a man: Mr. Antipathy, with the British Airways symbol pinned on his jacket. He stares our passports. He watches the printing of the flight reservation. He looks at me, but I'm not going to be caught unawares. Yes, I have the ESTA. He checks dubious on his terminal (mmmh... they don't have an internet access, but they can check online if i have that damn ESTA!). At the end he can't do other than admit. He puts a sticky tape with a barcode on our luggage and gives us the boarding passes. Have a nice flight, he smiles. We're on vacation!
Twenty-six hours later we finally reach the destination airport in Lihue. Baggage Claim. There are bags and suitcases of every shape and color, but not one black and orange sport bag. The luggage was lost somewhere in the world.
We go to the baggage office, Sorry, we'll deliver your baggage tomorrow. That makes you wonder where is all that safety program. You have to go through at least a couple of hand baggage and personal screening (remove shoes, belts, watches and pass in a magic door) for each airport. You also have to re-check baggage (ours was already lost in LosAngeles): even if the luggage is aimed at final destination, you must recognize it and take responsibility for its content. Every now and then a metallic voice recommends not to leave any baggage unattended, or it will be instantaneously destroyed.
Nevertheless at the end you are in one place and your luggage in another, thousands and thousands miles away. So much for safety!

The bag then will arrive three days after us (of course we go to WalMart to buy the bare necessities). But that won't ruin our holiday. It's a warm tropical night, the air is moist and spicy and a soft ukulele music sounds in our ears.
Aloha!

Four

2011-10-10T20:12:00.001+02:00

10/10/2007

My new bicycle

2011-08-28T17:52:00.004+02:00

Gosh! - I wondered some time ago - why, to go to work, day after day, I'm forced to pollute and waste money and resources into fuel, financing oil multinationals and warlords, driving a car without even enjoying it?
I like to drive, but when there is a journey to make! The positive aspect of this activity is linked to the need to escape from everyday life. The path from home to work instead is always the same, and it's even is annoying to have to pay attention to driving. In my case, then, it would be more nice to be enraptured by the charms of the bucolic woods of chestnut trees, rather than focusing on narrow roads and hairpin bends.

Actually, there is the bus. But for me it's uncomfortable, because the schedule does not match with my working hours. I certainly can not blame them: the line is designed to serve a small town. In other words, it is an invaluable service on the emergencies, but really impractical for everyday needs. When I used to live in Turin, and even before, when I was commuting by train between the province and the city of Milan (in that case the problem was to cover the journey between home and the station), I went by bike. And I liked it! it's a silent, efficient, quick and practical medium. And I especially liked the type of phisical activity.
I'm not a sporty type. I do not like sports without any practical purpose. I think it's absurd to waste resources (money, energy, time), in comforts gaining a sedentary lifestyle, but then again wasting some more (for example in the gym) to remedy the problems caused by

altitude profile of the route between home and work, detected by GPS

that lifestyle. Rather, it's better to use our energies when we need.
The bike, from this point of view is perfect, if it is compatible with the route that has to be covered. In Turin, for example, I had planned a route about 15 km long (a little longer than the needed) that passed through a city park and the towpaths of the Po, the Dora and a service channel (I had to deal with traffic in only a few points).

Where I live now, there is big problem. The way between home and the workplace is exactly 10km long. Not much, but my house is located at an altitude of five hundred meters more than the office. On average, then, the slope is 5%. Of course that 5% is not constant, and in some places the slope touches 10%. At this link there is the altimetrical contour of the path. Within that graph, my home is at about the fifth km. The office is, then, 5 km before the beginning of the graph and in those 5 km there is a similar slope. That climb is not impossible. On the opposite, the accurate documentation in www.salite.ch website, dedicated to "climber" cyclists shows that it is a classic in its genre. One can see bounches of them, especially in the weekends, with their super-technological bicycles, in their tight sportsuits with their shaved legs. All dripping proud sweat despite their calves with a circumference comparable to my stomach (and it's not small!), But with a very different tonicity. Those people can bear the slope for sure. But I think they also would never consider to do it every day to get home after work.
And, as I said above, I am not an athletic dude!
No, forget it! The bike would never be the solution!

...Unless ...

...Unless there is someone who helps to push.

That's the idea!

I search for informations about it, on the Internet and at specialized stores.
Eventually I found the shop "Punto fotovoltaico" at Galbiate (LC), licensee of the brand "Ecoveicoli" (which, as one can easily guess from the name, sells eco-friendly vehicles), and I bought it.
This is an electric bicycle with pedal assistance.

Okay "electric" - you can say - but what the hell does it mean "pedal assistance"?

There is a precise legislation that allows such a vehicle to be approved just like an ordinary bicycle (so no driving tax nor insurance nor helmet nor driving license).

(...) Shall also be considered bicycles with pedal assistance those vehicles equipped with an auxiliary electric motor having a maximum continuous rated power of 0.25 KW, which is gradually reduced and finally stopped when the vehicle reaches 25 km/h or before, if the cyclist stops pedaling.

Official law No. 31/February 7, 2003 (translation of mine)

In other words there is an electric motor that helps to propel the vehicle only when the pedals are moving. The engine stops pushing if you do not pedal, or, of course, if you brake. The push is inversely proportional to the speed until you reach 25km/h, when the power stops pushing. I have the feeling (but I'm not sure) that the speed is calculated on the rotation of the pedals, and not of the wheel, which is not the same thing, 'cause it depends on the shift (to an equal speed the engine seems to push more with a high gear).

My bike, pictured in the photo, is a Dinghi Special 24", with the setting "Export".
I have pondered the purchase. My indecision was based on the need to confirm that this method would allow me to overcome, more or less easily, the climb that I described above. I was not convinced that the the bike could manage.
At the end of the guy of the store helped me to overcome the question, allowing me a test-ride. One Saturday morning he and I jumped on the two candidate models, and we went for a long ride (with a slope a little less and about half the distance).
The difference between the two models lies in setting "Export". Aside from some touch of look, and the suspensions on the fork (useful but not decisive) the improvement that justifies the 450 euros extra of the more equipped one is the expensive lithium-ion battery instead of the lead one.
In addition to the ecological advantage of the lithium battery, during the test I found out that the lowest total weight of the bike + the battery (already heavy for the Export model) and above all a greater immediacy in the delivery the full power could really be the determining factor in my decision, given the criticality of the track.

I have already rode four times the path from home to work and back.
The first leg, of course, is easy. It takes more or less at the same time it takes by car. I always live the engine off but I hardly do any hard work (the road has only two climbs almost flat and very short). I arrive at work rested and refreshed in the morning crisp air. The only flaw is that I can not listen to the news at Popolare Network radio station (I think i will pose a remedy to that with a small radio set).
The back hand, istead, is quite challenging. Especially in this period, rather hot at that time also over here in the mountains. The climbs are tough, despite the aid of the engine. But the fatigue is bearable. It takes about forty minutes (less than twice the much by car).

At the end, I am satisfied with my purchase. But I've still got some minor criticisms:
- The bike, when the engine is on, has a green light that turns red when the battery is low charge. Unfortunately, when this happens, i am allowed for a couple of miles uphill. So, not to risk, i charge it every time, and that is not recommended if you want to give the battery a long life (the best is to plug it in only when fully discharged). It would have been better if it had a system a little more complex, like the one i have seen in the higher model ("Frisbee"), where the state of battery charge is shown in detail by a potentiometer. In that case, perhaps I could venture to make two journeys with a single charge (*).
- Dinghi Special 24" has a rear gearbox with six-speed derailleur (from 42/13 to 42/34). In some parts of the route, the climb would require an even shorter one, as it is in the "Frisbee".
- Going down, on the slope, given the weight of the vehicle (and of the rider), i have almost always to keep the brake engaged. It's a pity to waste that energy. Wouldn't be wonderful to have a system that uses it to recharge the battery?

The bike costs 1321 euros, but I had a discount to 1200, plus 15 euros for the basket. I then "decorated" it with a device that measures the speed and the distance (23 euros at Decathlon). I also bought a helmet (16 euros), which is not mandatory, but advisable.

(*): The producer says that a charge bear 80km on level ground or 40km uphill. It is a purely hypothetical measurement, because of course it depends on many factors, including the steepness of the climb, the rider's weight and strength that he impresses to the pedals (and thus the speed of travel).

What a nice picture!

2011-02-21T08:21:00.000+01:00

Anche tu Rubi?

2010-11-10T13:30:00.005+01:00

Come ti chiami, bella?
tanto il mio nome già lo sai
è per questo che sei qui,
per non scordarlo mai.
Io ti posso regalare tutto quanto
tranne la felicità,
però ti prego non chiamarmi anche tu papà.
Tu che vita che farai
sai che proprio non mi importa,
perché domani,
quando uscirai da questa porta,
quanti anni avrai
e quanti te ne avrà rubati io
sono solo cazzi tuoi
che qui tanto è tutto mio.
Anche tu Ruby
tu come me, rubi
sì siamo entrambi due grandi
rubacuor
che io ti pago, Ruby
ma non m'appago, Ruby
ma tu puoi sognare in questa villa a Arcor
come sei alta, snella
che gamba lunga lunga!
adesso dai facciamo.... un po' di rumba
su dai racconta i tuoi casini
e dammi da bere, ho ancora sete
che andare coi più piccolini
mi fa sentire grande
son scherzi anche da prete.
Ma anche tu Ruby
tu come me, rubi
che sono bello, sono alto
e sono un rubacuor
che posso tutto, Ruby
io sono il capo, Ruby
e ti concedo di sognar
in questa villa a Arcor
ma anche tu, Ruby
tu come me, rubi
che sono bello, sono alto
e sono un rubacuor
che posso tutto, Ruby
io sono il capo, Ruby
e ti concedo di sognar
in questa villa a Arcor
e ti concedo di sognar
in questa villa a Arcor
e ti concedo di sognar
ma intanto dammi... il cuor

What's your name, pretty?
anyway, you know my name, already
that's why you are here,
not to forget it ever.
I can give you everything
but happiness,
but, please, don't call me "daddy" you too.(1)
What kind of life you will live
you know, i really don't mind,
because tomorrow,
when you'll go out this door,
how old you'll be
and how many years i will have stolen to you
that's only your freaking business
cos here, anyway, everything is mine.
You too Ruby (2)
just lke me, you steal(3)
yes, we are both
heartbrakers (4)
Cos i pay you, Ruby
but i get no satisfaction, Ruby
but you can dream in this villa at Arcore (5)
how tall you are, how skinny
what a long long leg!
now let's make.... some rumba (6)
Come on tell me your troubles
and give me something to drink, i am still thursty
that dating the little ones
makes me feel tall (7)
they are also priests' jokes (8).
You too Ruby
just lke me, you steal
cos i am handsome, i am tall
and i am a heartbraker
cos i can everything, Ruby
i am the boss, Ruby
and i allow you to dream
in this villa at Arcore
You too Ruby
just lke me, you steal
cos i am handsome, i am tall
and i am a heartbraker
cos i can everything, Ruby
i am the boss, Ruby
and i allow you to dream
in this villa at Arcore
and i allow you to dream
in this villa at Arcore
and i allow you to dream
but now give me your... heart

Omar Stellacci

Notes:
(1): Referred to one (the first?) scandal of sexy girls at the court of Berlusconi, which used to call him "Papi" or "Papà" (="Daddy")
(2): Ruby is the nickname of this underage girl that looks like had an affair with Berlusconi.
(3): In italian "you steal" is "rubi", which has the same sound of the nickname of the girl: Ruby.
(4): In italian "heartbraker(s)" is "rubacuori" (literally "heart thief"), which root sounds similar to "rubi" and "Ruby".
(5): Arcore is the town where Berlusconi's villa is.
(6): In italian, "gamba lunga lunga" (="long long leg") rhymes with "bunga bunga" which according to all the newspapers, is the favorite erotic amusement of Berlusconi. That expression is so popular that it is clearly recalled although not pronounced.
(7): Referred to Berlusconi's height (he's kind of short).
(8): In italian, "scherzo da preti" (literally "priests' joke") is a dummy joke (priests are notoriously not very funny). But here it is also referred to some pedophily scandal among Catholic priests.

Three

2010-10-11T07:17:00.001+02:00

10/10/2007

Lake Viola

2010-09-27T18:45:00.002+02:00

Lake Viola (refuge Viola in the background)

August 19.
A nice quite easy kike. You have to reach (by car) the town Arnoga, on the road that connects Livigno to Bormio (North Lombardy, next to the border to Switzerland). Right on the interior part of the hairpin bend there is a hotel, while on the opposite side there is a bar and a road that signs the start point of the path.
In low season it is possible to drive the first part of the road by car, there are some comfortable parking lots ahead. During the summer there is too much people, so, to drive this road, you have to own the proper permit that can be bought at some public structures or on site. But there is a closed number of permits for the cars, so it ends up that you have to park the car outside. Too bad, because the first part of the path is pretty long and not very interesting, and moreover every now and then there are cars passing by: residents or public cars (2 euros for the tickets - you can take a ride till the last parking lot). It is possible, for 40 euros to have a ride all the way to the refuge Viola on an off-road vehicle

Mr. Bentley, Maddie and me

with 8 seats (so it comes 5 euros each), but we didn't see anybody doing that.
We left the car outside, in the parking lot just after the hairpin bend.
In the beginning the path is on asphalted road, very easy and with a minimum pendence (uphill). There are several houses around, that gradually become less frequent leaving space for woods and pastures. Every now and then you can encounter a parking lot completely stuffed with cars. The last parking lot is the starting point of the path allowed only to pedestrians (and the few offroad vehicles for the refuge). The road gets lost among meadows and rocks, and you can start to hear the typical whistles of hte marmots. They were all around us, although we were not able to see any. The path keeps being easy but really long. Taking a look to the map you believe to be really close to lake Viola and the refuge, our final destinations, but at every curve you are deluded. Finally, after another curve, there it is lake Viola. The refuge is still far but we decide to stop anyway, to eat the sandwich that we carried in the backsack. Maddie and Mr. Bentley were also exhousted and starving too. They deserve a snack.
We decide to head back without reaching the refuge. The GPS signs that we walked already for 10.5 kms, but it is quite wrong, probably the recording results longer because for the jags caused by the bad reception of accurate position. Going back on the same path till the start point we record over one kilometer less. The informations that we have found on the internet talk about a distance of 8.5kms
The hike is really nice although a little annoyed in the first part for hte cars. It is quite easy but it looks really neverending. The sight of the little lake at the end offers a gratification for all the strength to reach it.

Outward:

Time: 2:44

Distance: 10.50km [6.52mi] (?)

Difference of level: 393m [1289'] (730m [2395'] uphill, 337m [1106'] downhill)

Altitude: 1882m [6175'] to 2313m [7589']

Return (on the same path)

Time: 2:05

GPS track of the excursion.
A: Path start point; B: Last parking lot; C: Picnic; D: Lake Viola; E: Refuge Viola

Ascanio Celestini

2010-08-30T14:29:00.002+02:00

Ascanio Celestini

The People is like a child

He doesn't understand anything about politics.
If you talk Him about revolution and you do it seriously, it ends up that the People really makes it, that revolution.
So, we must do as the Communist Party did.
They made the People see the revolution from a distance, like a dancer on television.
The People is like a child and enjoys watching dancers.
Boys watch television because they like dancers's asses.
And girls watch television because they would like to have an ass like those dancers who boys are so fond of.
Everybody watches asses on TV
But both girls and boys know that TV is just an appliance.
That those asses exist only into TV.
They look around and the truth is that they are just sitting on the sofa in their apartment with no ass and no dance around.
But they're happy anyway. They are happy because every time they turn on TV again, there will be an ass ready to be watched, live broadcast.
And no matter if it is fake like Cinderella tale.
It matters only that after the live-broadasted ass they can go to bed serene.
The People likes the revolution, but you must show it as the ass of the a dancer.
Like something beautiful and impossible.
You must tell Him about the revolution, like a fairy tale.
The People is like a child.
He always wants to have reason.
So who rules the people has to tell him that the "the others are always wrong.
The others are disbelievers atheists, perverted homosexuals, dirty southerns, stinky black ones...
..in other words: relativists".
Then the People is happy.
Because the People is a child and as all the children He likes to play.
In children's games there is always someone who wins and some other who loses.
That's why the People likes football so much.
The People knows that the real football is not the one played in the small fields, it's not a match among friends.
The People knows that He cannot play the real football.
That He can only watch the real football on television.
Then the People sits and watches.
The People screams, shakes, gets tired like a child.
And when the night comes He immediately falls asleep. The People is very good, He is like a sheep.
The People knows that life is like a football game on television, as the final of the world championship: the whole world watches it, but then the match is played only by two teams.
Football is beautiful! Life is beautiful!
Only a few can enjoy it, but everyone else can cheer.
The People is like a child.
If you steal His candies, the child gets angry.
But if you put them in a shop He buys them immediately.
So you, who are smarter than the People, would make them pay twice of their value.
So for each candy He buys, one you sell and another you steal.
If you put your hands in the People's pocket you're a thief,
but if the People comes to you and empties His pockets, it's only a law of the market.
The People is like a child, He likes to buy candies.
Then maybe He takes them home and doesn't even eat them.
Maybe He throw them in the bucket, maybe.
Because children like to buy buy buy.
So you, who are more adult than people sell them everything.
The People wants to eat? And you sell Him junk until He bursts.
The People wants songs? And you sell Him some pounds of refrains to sing under the shower.
The People want ideals? And you sell Him also those.
Then maybe He takes them home and no longer believe in them.
Maybe He threw them in the bucket.
Better! Better...
So He goes straightaway back to the supermarket to buy candies.
The People is like a child.
Makes lots of questions and you can not tell Him the truth
otherwise He makes your life difficult.
For example, I've got a son, his name is Robertino Casoria, he's the worst of his class.
She said "Daddy what are the terrorists?"
I've wanted to tell the truth, I told him: "Do you remember when you were a child? At Christmas I told you that Santa Claus would come.
You were a smart kid and you didn't believe.
But then at night I went to put the presents under the tree and the next morning when you saw them you started to believe that Santa Claus had brought them. You thought that if there is a gift it means that there is also the bearded one who takes it with the sleigh with reindeer.
But it was still me.
And terrorists are the same thing. Someone tells you that there are terrorists and you do not believe it.
Then a bomb bursts, a couple of skyscrapers collapse
and everybody thinks that if there is the attack it also means that there are the terrorists...
but it is all a lie, it's still Dad who silently in the night blows up bombs and then blames the terrorists".
And my son goes:
"My friend Pancotti Maurizio" - Robertino goes around with
a fat kid that is unbearable, and I think it's also a bit stupid - he told me, "says Maurizio Pancotti that this thing is called strategy of tension"
Then I told him "your friend Pancotti Mauritius is a Communist!
And you know why he is so fat? Because communists eat the children. Be careful when you go to him for a snack because he is going to eat you!"
And my son Robertino began to tremble.
For a week he no longer left the house.
I obrained him to do whatever I wanted, I told him "wash my car! Tidy up your room! Bring me my slippers!" He obeyed me like a dog. Because one can rule with fear.
And the People is the same.
The People is like a child.
If you don't want Him to get lost in the woods you have to tell Him that there is the big bad wolf, the monster!
The terrorists, the Arabs with their big beards, the Malaysians pirates. Occasionally words must change, to perform a rotation.
The devil, the zombies, the monster of Loch Ness, the bugaboo, the Martians, the ghosts.
The People is like a child.
If you scare Him, He brings you your slippers, He washes your car.
The People is like a child.
If you scare Him, He obeys immediately.

This is a part of a monologue by Ascanio Celestini. The translation is mine, the original is over here.

Two hikes in Val Taleggio

2010-08-23T08:15:00.003+02:00

While preparing a post about an excursion we made last week during our holidays, i take advantage of the relaxed mood of the return to the office to document two hikes still sitting in the bottom of the last drawer.

Cornello dei Tasso

March 28th: Cornello-Oneta

Walking towards Oneta

Following the main road SS470 of Brembana Valley, after San Giovanni Bianco you have to take the last exit before the tunnel, towards Camerata-Cornello. From here continue along the old road until you find a left turn that starts to climb the mountain. Some haipin bends and you reach a sports center, where you can leave the car.
From here walk down to the hairpin, which branches off a paved road. At the end of this road the trail starts. Soon you reach the medieval village of Cornello del Tasso (one of the Borghi piu' belli d'Italia).
From here you enter the woods, and soon you find a little church dedicated to St. Anna.
You reach then Oneta, another beautiful medieval village known for being the birthplace of the character Harlequin. After a short exploration of the village, we returned on our steps.
The path is well-shaded and flat. There is no difficulty at all but it's very nice.

Outwards:

Time: 1:08

Distance: 4.82km [3mi]

Difference of level: 144m [472ft] (210m [689ft] uphill, 66m [217ft] downhill)

Altitude: 449m [1473ft] to 563m [1847ft]

Return (on the same path):

Time: 1:16

GPS track of the excursion.
A: Parking lot; B: Start point of the path on the hairpin; C: Cornello dei Tasso; D: Oratorio di S. Anna; E: Oneta

Exploring Il Fraggio

May 16th: Pizzino
We had already been here one time before, passing by around here and following the signs indicating the sale of artisan goat cheese.
Coming from Bergamo on the road of Brembana Valley, at San Giovanni Bianco, take a left towards Taleggio valley. At Sottochiesa there is a road on the right that already indicates the goat cheese. Pizzino is after few hairpin bends.
We leave the car in a small parking lot just before the church.
Following the indication, we find our way for the farm "Il Pavone", where they make that magnificent cheese. Over there the trail starts, through woods and pastures that leads to the village Fraggio (a couple of houses and a church dated XV century). From here, we turned around the village and climbed gradually until we reached the paved road that descends back to town Pizzino.
Then we go back to the farm to buy some cheese, and then, back to the parking lot. This tour is not particularly difficult and rather short.

Ring path:

Time: 1:45

Distance: 5.22km [3.24mi]

Difference of level: 166m [545ft] (295m [968ft] uphill and downhill)

Altitude: 887m [2910ft] to 1053m [3455ft]

GPS track of the excursion.
A: Parking lot; B: Il Pavone farm; C: village Fraggio

GMO in Friuli

2010-07-23T13:52:00.002+02:00

GM-free zone

Follows the call by Greenpeace I received through their mailing list:

Hello Dario,

during these days we are risking the first extensive contamination from GMOs in Italy, because of an alleged seeding - which would be completely illegal - of GM corn in a field in Friuli, in the Municipality of Fanna (Pn). On 10 July the "suspicious" field has been seized, but the Public Prosecutor's office of Pordenone, instead of urgent action, took a month to verify the analysis and drafting the report.

Waiting till August is absurd! Molecular analysis to ascertain the presence of GMOs on the samples - which already were salmpled much time ago - do not require more than three days! Now that corn is at an advanced stage of maturation: a few more days and these plants will produce their pollen, which will disperse in the environment and give off a contamination difficult to stop.

We can not stand still and watch! For this we invite you to write, along with Greenpeace and the entire Task Force for an Italy GM-free, the to President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano. In its role as guarantor of laws and their application, we ask our President to take urgent action on the Public Prosecutor's office of Pordenone to avert any possibility of contamination by GM crops.

If, like us, you want to prevent GMOs contaminate the environment and agriculture, you too sends the letter to the President Giorgio Napolitano.

Thanks!

I have signed.

Refuge Martina - Mount San Primo

2010-07-08T13:22:00.002+02:00

June 27, 2010.

The path we will have to hike
in the return, seen from the summit
of mount San Primo

It looks like it's going to be a hot day, so we decide to leave early.
On the road that connects Erba and Como from Lecco there's a detour to the right towards Canzo. This is a beautiful scenic road that leads to the famous town of Bellagio, cutting through the Triangolo Lariano in the middle. After Canzo, at Asso you must go straight and ignore the signs to Bellagio (which takes you back to the coastal lakeside route). This road is famous for cyclists (in fact we encountered a lot of them). Soon there is the Madonna del Ghisallo chapel, dedicated to the memory of Fausto Coppi (a famous champion cyclist of the 40s and 50s), and, right there, the Museum of the bicycle. Just at that point there is a road to the left, which clings, with a lot of bends, to the mountain. The drive ends with a stretch of dirt road, in San Primo, where a disused hotel (I wonder why never restored ... it is beautiful!), and eventually a parking lot. A bar indicates that access is allowed only by foot. Following the signs to the refuge Martina is the main road and then a detour to the left. It takes about 15-20 minutes to reach the refuge, uphill, but not difficult. Almost all the hikers stop here: actually it looks like a very welcoming place. But our destination is the summit of Mount San Primo. Behind the hut, in fact, the trail branches off and the descent begins!

The same trail, just after hiked

The path becomes increasingly difficult, so that in some places we have to hold onto rocks or trees. Maddie and Mr. Bentley needed some help to overcome particularly steep sections. It's hot and rather humid, the flies stick to sweaty skin every time you stop to breath. But the place is beautiful, the trail cuts through the woods and the birds singing keeps us constant companionship. Mr. Bentley misses his pillow while Maddie is looking forward to see what will come next. We met some other hikers, even a couple of cyclists coming down in the opposite direction with the bike on their shoulders (crazy!). We ask them for information and they confirm that the path on the opposite side, is definitely easier (they have done uphill biking).
Finally, after almost two hours, the forest suddenly opens and the top is at hand. There is a votive cross and a big antenna, powered by solar panels.
Two paths branch off from the top, on the crest, one at right, towards northwest, one on the left, to the southeast. Unfortunately the weather is not very good. No rain, but it is very muggy, and the lake cannot be seen. There is supposed to be be a rather nice view of the split between the Lecco and the Como branches, where Bellagio is.
We take a left. A little further down we stop to quickly eat a sandwich. The descent is much less steep and easier than the climb, but it is also much longer. At some point we find a marker that indicates the path Sentiero Italia #1. We follow that which takes us through woods and pastures, down to a farm. From here you take the paved road that leads down to where the disused hotel is.

Ouotwards:

Time: 1:59
Distance: 4.62km [2.87mi]
Difference of level: 562m [1844ft] (578m [1896ft] uphill, 16m [52ft] downhill)
Altitude: 1151m [1077ft] to 1568m [1678ft]

Return:

Time: 2:50 (including a 20 minutes stop for lunch)
Distance: 6.48km [4.03mi]
Difference of level: 562m [1844ft] (47m [154ft] uphill, 609m [1998ft] downhill)
Altitude: 1678m [5505ft] to 1116m [3661ft]

GPS track of the excursion.
In red the ascent, in yellow the descent: A: Parking lot; B: Refuge Martina; C: Summit of mount San Primo; D: Lunch stop; E: Intersection with Sentiero Italia #1; F: Farm house; G: Disused hotel.

Don't shut your mouth

2010-07-01T07:48:00.001+02:00

Fuipiano

2010-06-25T08:17:00.007+02:00

June 2, from Fuipiano to Zuc di Valbona.

Our destination: Zuc di Valbona

Fuipiano, as stated in the road sign indicating the border of the town, is nicknamed "The roof of Imagna Valley". This town is in fact the highest in the valley and is situated on the opposite side of the mountain where we live. Here is the start point of some hiking trails.

Once in Fuipiano you need to follow towards the pass of Grumello until the end of the road. There are plenty of quite comfortable parkings. If the day is busy, you can park a couple hairpin bends below, as we did.
At this point we start to trek uphill, on a paved trail first, then cobbled. Among woods and meadows, the trail is clear and not difficult. There are several variants, well marked; we stay on the main road, and reach an area with a pond (for watering the cows?) and some picnic tables.
Zuc di Valbona (a cross at the top of slope) is our goal (Zuc is the dialect for pumpkin, or, as a funny expression, for bald-head, infact the top of the mountain reminds you of it). The Kompass map indicate a different path towards

View from underneath, during our return.
On the left the end point of the excursion, on the right the Zuc.
Enlarging the picture you can see the steep climb,
on the right, that points straightful towards the little house in the center

the forest, but we decide to follow the main road. The climb is impressively steep and seems endless (it's paved but closed to traffic). The signs indicate a gradient of 22%, but sometimes it must surely be greater. While walking, you have the feeling you must move your weight forward not to fall back. Crazy are those cyclists who climb up with their mtb. And even more crazy are the ones who descend.
On top of the hill the view is beautiful. On the right there's a house, the trail bends around it and ends at Zuc Valbona, not far. Some hikers are at the top around the cross. In front of us stands the distinctive profile of Mount Resegone viewed from its eastern side. We decide to change our goal and go straight on a variant of the main path that follows the sweet ups and downs towards mount Resegone. After a few hundred meters further down we see a building on the right with a pond and some hikers resting. We stop in the locally highest point to eat a sandwich. We go back to the car following same route in reverse.

Outwards:

Time: 1:26

Distance: 3.81km [2.37mi]

Difference of level: 368m [1207ft] (392m [1286ft] uphill, 24m [79ft] downhill)

Altitude: 1098m [3602ft] to 1481m [4859ft]

Return (on the same path):

Time: 1:09

June 6. Ring circuit: Fuipiano - Tre Faggi - Madonna dei Canti - Fuipiano

View from Madonna dei Canti, on the path we made last
time: the pick on the right is the Zuc di Valbona,
on the left, the steep climb

From Fuipiano we noticed an interesting looking variant, so we looked and found this alternative on the Kompass map. We decided to come back and try this other path.
The beginning of the trail is in the same place, at Fuipiano. Walking on the same path, when the road opens out to a pasture, there is a fork. This time we follow the sign to "Tre Faggi' on the right. Following that road, we head to the opposite side than the one we hiked the last time. At one point the road is blocked to contain the cows, and we had to follow the marked path on the left,

Hiking with Mr. Bentley and Maddie

which goes into the woods. Anyway, it's obvious enough that we must reach another path a little higher up. The only problem is that the dead leaves are quite slippery, making the climb difficult. Once reached that path to get to Tre Faggi is a breeze.
The destination is rather obvious for the presence of the three huge beech trees (Tre Faggi, in Ialian), growing just side by side. There is also a construction: a balcony overlooking the precipice, and a shrine.
From this point there are various branching paths. We follow #571 west, which proceeds on the ridge at the top of the mountain. Here the route alternates between woods and rocks, to open up a wide meadow. Here is a statue dedicated to Madonna dei Canti ("Our Lady of Songs"). Following the Kompass map on the GPS here it looks that the right way is straight, despite #571 is well marked by a sign in the middle of the meadow. Continuing straight, however, the track looses in the forest. We decided then to trust the signs. Going down the paths enters the woods again and, after some steep hairpin bends, it connects the main trail, at the lowest point of steep path we hiked few days before. From here we follow the same path, stopping, at the picnic area, for lunch: teryaki-ginger chicken, pancit (Filipino noodles), brownies, fresh cherries. This time we have also some snacks for Maddie and Mr. Bentley.
From the picnic area to the car there is still a few walk downhill.

Ring path:

Time: 4:04

Distance: 8.76km [5.44mi]

Difference of level: 487m [1598ft]

Altitude: 1151m [3776ft] to 1568m [5144ft]

Traccia GPS dellE DUE escursioni.
In rosso quella del 2 giugno, in giallo quella del 6 giugno: A: Parcheggio auto; B: Inizio sentiero; C: Bivio Zuc di Valbona/Tre Faggi; D-E: Ripida salita; F: Zuc di Valbona; G: Sosta all'arrivo della prima escursione; H: Tre Faggi; I: Madonna dei Canti; J: Area pic-nic.

Parre Sopra - S. Antonio

2010-06-03T14:24:00.002+02:00

One of our hiking excursions. The description in Italian over here

St. Anthony's chapel

Scarpinocc

Outwards:

Time: 1:28

Distance: 3.97km [2.47mi]

Difference of level: 412m [1352ft] (496m [1627ft] uphill, 84m [276ft] downhill)

Altitude: 622m [2041ft] to 1050m [3445ft]

Return (on the same path):

Time: 1:09

GPS track of the excursion.
A: Parking lot; B: Parre Sopra church; C: Arch with the fresco paint of St. Cristopher; D: Little bridge on the stream; E: fork; F: St. Anthony's chapel

...So, who to vote for?

2010-03-24T12:24:00.001+01:00

In this post (in Italian) my analysis about the political situation in Italy, waiting for the regional election day this coming sunday-monday (too long and boring to translate ;-)).

Refuge Terz'Alpe

2010-03-23T08:01:00.004+01:00

Mr. Bentley and me on Via delle Alpi

Sunday, march 14th, 2010. Third escursion for this year.
The path starts just out of the center of Canzo. You can reach the town from the highway Como-Lecco on a detour east from the main town of Erba, via the road that connects to Bellagio.
You have to reach the locality Gajum, but in the holidays there are some signs that suggest not to go by car, and to use the ample parking in the town. We wanted to try to get closer but we ended up finding ourselves in the tight and uncomfortable lanes without any possibility to find a spot for the car. We then headed back and parked next to the cemetery, from where clear signs point in fact to Gajum.
You reach Gajum walking on the asphalt roads. Here there is a tiny parking with some indications on trail markers. We choose the high path, on the left, named "Via delle Alpi".

Corno di Canzo

From the main way some other paths diverge. We followed the indications for "Terz'Alpe". The path is paved with stones and it is quite easy. It encounters the last houses and some farms, climbing some hairpin bends. Then the road becomes more flat and you arrive finally at "Prim'Alpe". It is an old mountain farmhouse turned into a visitor center. Here there is a fountain with refreshing water and a beautiful meadow with picnic talbes. A lot of people stop in this place, and we also have a little rest for a drink and some photos.
We keep following the main road and after a while we reach, through the woods, the refuge Terz'Alpe. Also this, in the past, was a mountain farmhouse. The path is really beautiful and also the weather was ideal for this excursion: not too cold and not too warm. In some places there is still some ice but nothing really dangerous. On the right of the path there is a terrific view of the valley. Next to the refuge the panorama is breathtaking, with the Corni di Canzo right behind the refuge.
After a pause for lunch at the refuge we start our way back, this time walking on the lower trail. Right in front of the building there is the starting point for this path, also paved with stones, pretty steep, aided by irregular steps. Here the ice makes the walk more difficult.
After a first steep descent, the path crosses the stream several times on wooden and iron bridges. At the end we reach back at Gajum, and from here we head back to the cemetery where the car is.

Outwards:

Time: 1:52

Distance: 8.36km [5.19mi]

Difference of level: 438m [1437"](598m [1962"] uphill, 160m [525"] downhill)

Altitude: 353m [1158"] to 852m [2795"]

Return:

Time: 1:33

Distance: 8.45km [5.25mi]

Difference of level: 438m [1437"] (326m [1070"] uphill, 764m [2507"] downhill)

Altitude: 388m [1273"] to 830m [2723"]

GPS track of the excursion.
A: Parking at the cemetery; B: start point at Gajum; C: Prim'Alpe; D: Refuge Terz'Alpe; E: Corni di Canzo

Virtual-pen brothers

2010-02-18T14:14:00.001+01:00

I don't have a lot of time to write this post now, but i really want to tell, before it's too late, how good it wat to go for dinner to Maurice's, chef at the restaurant El Barba.
We really ate very well. We chosed two "menu speciali" (4 courses chosen by the chef) at 25 euros each.
Appetizers:
- Mushroom sformato with tomato sauce
- Polenta, gorgonzola and Trentingrana cheese with pear
First courses:
- Three kind of canederli
Second courses:
- Roast porc shin with smashed potatoes
- Gulash trentino with polenta from Storno
Desserts:
- Warm berries soup with icecream
- Clementine mousse
All of this with an excellent bottle of Teroldego Sangue di Drago by Donati Marco, for 34 euros.
Everything was perfect, but the best was chatting with my friend Maurice. It's years we virtually know each other on our blogs, but we never had the chance to phisically meet before.

Ristorante El Barba
piazza S. Maria Assunta, 2
38027 Malè (Tn)
Closed on thursdays, never in summer nor during Christmas period, closed for holidays in november.
Dogs welcome.

Bigio L'Oster

2010-01-29T11:54:00.005+01:00

Buffet-style appetizers

January 21st, Thursday. It's foggy and cold in the Bergamo area.
By car we drive along the main road of Seriana valley, and at Albino we start the ascent up the mountain. The feeling is that we took the wrong way. Also the GPS system looks like lost - could it ever be possible that in the wild valley full of vicious beasts there is a Jazz cafe? Look! There's a restaurant! Can it be this one? Uhm... on the sign the name is different. Wait, i'll go inside to ask.
The restaurant is empty. A man with buck teeth and a black cape stands behind the bar, revealing a scary smile that tells me we took the wrong way: Bigio's pub is 25 kilometers from here. He stares at me with a mean look and a drop of fresh blood falls from his mouth.
I shake myself and understand that my imagination is playing a bad joke. The guy, actually a cordial man with very normal front teeth and a jolly face, smiles to me and tells me he was joking about the 25 kilometers. He shows me the curve nearby, not more than 100 meters ahead. "There. Bigio L'Oster is right behind that bend". In fact hidden behind it there is a huge parking lot

Stockfish on polenta with tomato sauce

full of cars (i suppose that during the day it fills up for the visitors of Altino Sanctuary). Nearby a building that looks like a dismal factory, but inside it appears more welcoming.
A little "kitsch" with a lot of stuff all over the place. Old agricultural tools hung on the roof and walls, last century radio sets, statues caved in wood. Even brass musical instruments smashed and hung like laundry drying under the sun.
When we enter it's about 8pm, the pub is already quite full. We ask the waiters for our reserved table, then we seat ourselves and soon after go back to the counter to get our buffet-style appetizer, all of which are very good local products.
According to the schedule the show would have been on just after the appetizer, and the dinner at the end. Mmmh.. unusual!
Instead, as it was more logical, after the appetizer they brought a plate of casoncelli (local stuffed pasta), followed by gnocchi, and after that stockfish on polenta with tomato sauce. As a dessert there was apple pie, then afterwards coffee and a digestive. Water, red and white wine from Valle del Fico were available on the tables. Everything was good and genuine, and almost everything was "zero-kilometers".

The really exceptional thing was the show after the dinner. Bobby Watson and

Bobby Watson and the JW Orchestra

the JW Orchestra played an unpublished jazz repertory through african atmospheres for which the leader Marco Gotti is fascinated (the title of the show was "Africa Jazz Traveling"). The formation of the band is also extraordinary. Above the alto sax of Bobby Watson, guest star, another thirteen brasses (two alto, two tenor and one baritone saxes, four trumpets, three trombones and one bass trumpet). A wonderful rythmical section (contrabbass and drums) completes the set, along with a piano that combined all the sounds. The show was more than one hour, and at the end we went away after the first encore, already late in the night, considering it was weekday. Unforgettable experience.

The environment of Bigio L'Oster is very informal, where one ends up chatting with the other guests seated nearby in the long communal tables.
I was already expecting to enlarge the list of tax evaders here on this side, but instead i was pleasantly surprised when they gave me the fiscal receipt without even asking. Good of you, Bigio!
The price was 35 euros each. Inexpensive, considering both the dinner and the show.

Maddie and Mr. Bentley, although offended for not being allowed to come along, had been enough cooperative, succeeding in not destroying the house.

Bigio L'Oster
Via Santuario di Altino
Albino (BG)

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

2010-01-27T08:42:00.000+01:00

"You are always beside us".

Story of the kingdom of Centenaria and his enlightened ruler

2010-01-25T15:22:00.000+01:00

In pretty long post i tell a story about my vision of the problem of growth of population. This is the italian version.

San Pietro al Monte

2010-01-15T11:49:00.004+01:00

Maddie, Mr. Bentley and me

January 2nd, the first excursion of the new year.

Weather was wonderful although there was a strong and cold wind.
At the exit "Civate-Oggiono-Lecco lake" of the highway SS36, you follow for Civate and pretty soon you meet the brown signs directing to "Abbazia di San Pietro al Monte". At a certain point you drive on via del Pozzo. At the hairpin

Lake Annone-Oggiono

bend, the straight, narrow road (at left) becomes forbidden for non-residents. After the curve there is plenty of space to park your car.
Here the hike starts on the residents-only road, signed with trail marker #10. After the last buildings of the village you enter the forest in an area named "Valle dell'Oro" (the reference is not to the precious metal ["Oro" in italian means "Gold"], but it comes from the latin "oris", or water-source, in fact there are some fountains along the path). The path is well kept, paved with stones, and it is very easy, if not for the annoying wind and for being a little out of shape.
At the end you reach a slope a little steeper, where you can already see the walls of the abbey.
Over here you find an incredible place: it looks almost extraordinary that they wanted to build such a building right in this spot.

There are written proofs of the existence of the abbey till IX century, although it looks that it was built much before. The complex is composed by the

Resegone

wonderful St. Peter church and St. Benedict oratory, right next to a meadow that invites you to lay down in the warmth of the sun. Unfortunately, when we arrived, the church was closed (it's open 9 to 12am and 1.30 to 4pm). In the facade of the church there is a beautiful portico that opens on a view of mount Resegone on the left and lake Annone-Oggiono on the right.

From this point the trail follows, uphill, entering the forest again. We, instead, after a stop for some photos, traced our steps down the same path.
One of the first houses encountered going down is an attractive restaurant, "Il Crotto del Capraio" that was unfortunately closed. It looks like one needs a reservation...

Outward:

Time: 1:02

Distance: 2.81km [1.75mi]

Difference of level: 345m [1132'] (364m [1194'] uphill, 19m [62'] downhill)

Altitude: 323m [1060'] to 696m [2283']

Backward (on the same path):

Time: 0:51

GPS track of the excursion.
A: Start point of path #10; B: Crotto del Capraio; C: San Pietro al Monte abbey

Happy birthday

2010-01-08T15:45:00.009+01:00

At left, the "plateau des fromages" (from left, clockwise: Nocciolino di Ceva, Caciocavallo Podolico, Castelmagno d'Alpeggio, Epoisses, Pecorino di Farindola, Holzhofer, Salva Bergamasco; in the middle: aged Stilton).
At right, the "dead bottles" (left to right: Cerasuolo di Vittoria Valle dell'Acate, Nero d'Avola Zahir Santa Anastasia, Lessona Tenute Sella, Chianti Classico Castellare, Notarpanaro Taurino

That's life, a few days ago i turned 45. My birthday happens to fall on january 6th (in Italy we celebrate the Epiphany, a day in which the Befana - a kind of good witch - comes to bring coal or candies to kids if they behaved good or bad). And this coincidence of celebration had always meant tons of obvious jokes.

This year we organized a nice party at our house. We invited some old friends for lunch, those which we don't meet very often because of the distance. We were 10 people.
I was surprised to see E. had grown so much. She is 11, now, and it's three years she has been studying to play piano.
I was listening with pleasure and emotion to her playing my piano that i haven't touched in years. It reminded me of my experience with that instrument, and i made a resolution to put my fingers back in shape with some musical exercises.

Maddie in her b-day hat

Besides the animated political discussions (all the opinions anyway from the good side), that happened to start after the second glass of wine, we kept up to date about the news in our lives.

The menu was very easy. Some snacks with the aperitif, tomato sauce pasta and some cured meats. But the very main course was the plate of cheese (that we bought at La Casera at Verbania Intra and at La Salumeria di Elena Debiasi at Trieste), which was a big success.
In the end, obviously, the birthday cake, baked by R: a cheesecake and a hazelnut and chocolate torte.

Maddie of course was playing the role of the spoiled dog, in exchange for plenty of snuggles, while Mr. Bentley was not as bad tempered as usual. He even accepted some treaties from the "enemy" hands of my mates.

The climate of hate

2009-12-18T17:53:00.001+01:00

Here my personal comments to the attack to Berlusconi happened during a public speach in Milan.

Double language

2009-12-18T17:46:00.001+01:00

This blog was born in double language. But after years i came to the conclusion that there is not a real interest in it. So, from now on, in the English version i will put only the title and a short description for each post. If anybody is interested i will link the Italian version. Please anybody feel free to ask me, any translation.

Where the hell is that wooden stairway?

2009-12-11T14:24:00.005+01:00

Buco del Piombo

October 11th, 2009
We leave the dogs at home and head out for nice excursion. We found some informations on the net to reach the "scala di legno" [wooden stairway] from Capanna Mara (a refuge), but we decide to hike the path backwards. We park the car at Albavilla, next to a strange building, the "Alpe del vicerè". This building was built infact by the vicerè [the viceroy], as a rest station for his horses. The building then was transformed to a hotel and now it is just a ruin falling apart. Here there is a huge parking lot, closed by a barrier (it looks like when it is open there is a fee to pay). Anyway, there is enough space at the side of the white road.
From here the path starts on a carriage road downhill, in the chestnut forest. A lot of people hike this path, maybe for the easiness of the hike, and for the attractive of the destination. The path, infact, ends up at a rocky stairway with 200 steps that takes you to the Buco del Piombo museum. It is a cave where they provide guided visits. To enter you have to pay five euros, but our destination is another. We ask the

View of the path coming from Erba

directions to the guide, who is waiting at the ticket shop, for the path to go to the Scala di Legno and Scala di Ferro [iron stairway]. They are connections between two paths at different altitude. I already was imagining myself with shaking legs due to my dislike to extreme heights, although the guide reassures us about its safety. After the stairways there should be a terrific view of the "Orrido di Caino".

Following the directions of the guide, we go back on our steps and take from the main carriage road a detour that takes us to a stone bridge ("ponte Romano"). Over here the path divides in three directions. The first one, just before the bridge, looks like going back to the Alpe del Vicerè, along an alternative path. We see coming from a second path some people that tell us they are coming from the city of Erba. Next to the bridge there is a trail marker pointing to a third path, but unfortunately it doesn't indicate any "Scala di Legno". We follow anyway this alternative, but after a while, coasting the river, the path arrives to a dead end just after a ford.
A little disappointed we decide to go back, with the intention to try again another time, maybe following better the directions from the web.

Round trip:

Time: 3:47

Distance: 17.1km [10.63mi]

Difference of level: 666m [2185']

Altitude: between 442m [1450'] and 864m [2835']

GPS track of the excursion.
A: Alpe del Vicerè; B: Buco del Piombo; C: ponte 'Romano'; D: ford

Statistics of all the excursions during year 2009:

Total time: 30:20

Distance: 118.39km [73.56mi]

Difference of level: 6188m [20302']

Minimum altitude: 343m [1125']

Maximum altitude: 1550m [5085']

The Wizard Language and the haphazard words

2009-11-18T10:33:00.004+01:00

The Wizard Language and the haphazard words

Once upon a time there was a planet called Earth. Its name was so, although to tell the truth, there was more sea than earth.
The inhabitants of the Earth, in fact, used the words in an odd way. For example, consider the fishes. When they all swim together they call it school. But fishes don't go to school like kids. Wouldn't it be more logical to call it swimming-team?
Also the important things were often very confusing. They always spoke about "rights": the right of education, for example, meant that all the children could (and should!) go to school.
The right of health, then, should have meant that everybody, hurt, or sick, should have had the possibility to go to the hospital.
But who lived in a country without any school, or that, because of the war, could not leave home, or who didn't have enough money to pay the hospital (and this, in the poor countries, is more a rule than an exception), these rights were actually some lefts: they didn't worth a flying fig.
Since they were not true for everybody but only for who could afford it, those things were not rights: they become privileges, or special benefits reserved to few people...
Some times, even, the powerful of the Earth used to call "peace operation" the one that, in reality, was an operation of war: they used to say exactly the opposite of what they actually meant.
And then, on the Earth, there wasn't agreement between men about the meanings anymore: for some people wealth meant having ten thousand billion, for others it meant having at least one potato to eat.
What a mess! So much confusion that one day the Wizard Language could not stand it anymore.
Language was a very powerful wizard, that a long time ago had invented the words and had given them to man.
At first there had been some confusion because people did not know how to use them, and if one said artichoke, the other thought of a kangaroo, and if one said spaghetti the other meant gorilla, and at the restaurant they did never understand each other.
Then the Wizard Language stuck to every word a precise meaning, so that the words always meant the same thing, and for everybody.
Then the artichoke has always been a vegetable and the gorilla a furry animal, and there was no more the risk to find for a mistake a big furry animal in the dish, with its large head covered with tomato sauce.
This job to give a precise meaning to words, had cost a lot of effort to the Wizard Language.
Now, seeing that men did not care about his work, and that they continued to use the words haphazardly, he decided to teach them a lesson.
"Words are important - he liked to say - if you change the words you also change the world, and then you do not understand anything anymore."
One night, therefore, he started to mess things up a little, moving a syllable here, one there, combining vowels and consonants, making anagrams with nouns. In the morning, in fact, nobody could understand each other anymore.
To all of the hotels in a big town he attached the letter B to the rooms, which became brooms. The people lodging in those hotels woke up the next morning, and instead of laying in their beds, they were riding brooms like a bunch of witches.
He changed the c of car with an f, and it became far, and who was looking for his car he could find it only very far away.
To the cakes, instead, he changed the c to l, and they became all... lakes, so that the kids couldn't eat them anymore. And they were not good to be thrown in somebody's face either.
In the schools he had fun, at the time of the roll call, to make an anagram with the word present, and if before a student was present now he was serpent, and the teacher ran away terrified.
Then satisfied a personal whim: he completely removed the word war, which he invented by accident, and didn't like it.
So a great leader of the Earth, which at that time was about to declare war, had to stop in mid-sentence, and they didn't do anything about it.
He had also turned the cannons into cannolos, Sicilian cannolos, of course, and who was fighting found himself all covered with ricotta cheese and candied fruit.
This went on for several days, with dishes that became fishes and swam away, bricks that became cricks and buildings start complaining for the pain, rice that became mice and the cat wanted to chase them.
What a mess! Too much confusion and the men could not stand it anymore.
Then they sent a delegation to ask him to reset the words, and with them the world.
"All right - said Language - but only on one condition: that you begin to use the words with their correct meaning.
The rights of men must be for all men, really all of them, otherwise just call

them privileges. Equality must mean that everyone is truly equal, and not that someone is more equal than someone else. And about the war...".
"About the war - interrupted the men - we've thought... you keep it, it's a word we can do without."

Cecilia Strada

English translation of mine, with help by Rowena.

Cecilia Strada is the daughter of Gino Strada and Teresa Sarti, founders of the organization Emergency that has the main task of giving medical assistance in the countries mangled by wars.
You can find the original story, in Italian, over here. As you can imagine the translation was a difficult task, because the puns cannot be literally given in English. I hope Cecilia doesn't mind if i had to make significant changes to try to preserve the general meaning.

Primaries of PD

2009-10-23T11:08:00.001+02:00

This coming sunday there will be the primaries for the election of PD's leader. I will vote for Ignazio Marino, for the reasons i described some times ago in this post.
I share all the points listed by Artemisia on on her blog.

Good election day to everybody.

Two!

2009-10-10T18:54:00.001+02:00

10/10/2007

Take that, Berlusconi!

2009-10-08T08:15:00.002+02:00

I stole this photo from my friend Silvano's blog.

The rejection of the law "lodo Alfano" [the judical immunity for the four highest offices of State - Berlusconi included], deserves deep and complex political discussion.
In the mean time this panda bear, endangered animal just like endangered is democracy in Italy, enjoys a good fart in spite of Berlusconi.

Valle d'Aosta and the cow

2009-09-25T09:20:00.003+02:00

Teteun

The cow is almost a symbol of the mountain region Valle d'Aosta. Over there, in fact, cow breeding is a good business, and bovine products are particularily valuable. Cow milk, cheeses, bovine meat are very good.
In that region we tasted for the first time a particular product obtained by bovine udder: the "Teteun" [pronounced teh-TEHN, where the 'eh' sounds like the vowels in the english word "bird" or the french "beuf" or the german "Köln"].
During the past August holidays we attended a festival of that product in the little town of Gignod, "la Fëta di Teteun" and we ate it in three different recipes: plain boiled, stewed with tomato sauce and sliced thin as a cooked ham. I expected to taste something tough. Instead the meat is very tender, a little spongey, very similar to cooked ham. As it often happens with Italian traditional cooking, this kind of food was originated by the need not to waste any edible part of the animal.

Bataille des Reines

Speaking of cows, we also attended to another traditional event. The "Batailles de Reines" [the battles of the queens]. As the host of our bed and breakfast explained to us, the cows of a herd, lacking a dominant bull, naturally fight each other to establish a hierarchy, at the top of which there is the Queen. Those fight usually are symbolic and don't involve any blood. They terminate when one of the two contenders submits to the other, escaping from the push of her head.
The "Batailles de Reines" event is the fights between queens of different herds and they are organized like a knockout competition. We went to one of the preliminary where about 100 cows of different producers were divided in pairs. Three fights taking place contemporarily in a big rounded space. A lot of spectators were intensely involved. The strange thing was the language spoken by the speaker: the local dialect, which sounds like a mixture of italian and french. Obviously the show is played for the locals.
Unfortunately we couldn't attend to the final match that was going to be fought October 11th in Aosta. We were told that this annual appointment is usually a big event that is faithfully attended to by Aosta citizens.

More informations about these events on Rubbah Slippahs in Italy, here and here.

San Marco - Valcava

2009-09-17T11:28:00.004+02:00

View

This excursion was quite obvious to find - for us. In fact it is enough to go out from the house and start walking uphill.
To reach the small village of Valcava at the top of the mountain, you can walk on the asphalted road, but this way is not that beautiful in the weekends because it is invaded by hordes of Milanesi cars.
There are several other hiking paths that reach the same destination, cutting across the hairpin bends or ascending next to them.

The first time we tried (August 17th), after a long time without any exercise, we and the dogs decided to turn back half way, tired for the lack of exercise and for the heat of the day. We walked on the paved road and it was easy enough, apart from the last kilometer where the slope is very steep (18%).

After a couple of weeks (September 5), back from the holidays, we tried the second part, parking the car exactly at the end of the previous time. This time we tried to avoid the paved road, in fact we found a nice hiking trail. This part was much more interesting, walking in the fields and the woods and

Stone wash-tub

checking out some views impossible to see driving a car. At a certain point, we found a crossing connecting some different paths where there is a stone wash-tub still in use.
At the top of this excursion we arrived to Valcava village, without reconnecting to the main road.

Last sunday (September 13) we tried the whole distance. To climb the mountain we walked exactly the same paths of both the previous excursions. To return back we tried to stay on the hiking trail. If the middle section is really steep on the road, it is even more on the path, and that, actually, is the only hard part of the whole excursion.
Unfortunately during the descent the battery of my GPS died. That's why we took a lot of time to notice that at a certain point we took the wrong way. The detour was about a couple of kilometers, but fortunately it was enough flat.

First hike
Outward:

Time: 1:03

Distance: 3.95km [2.45mi]

Difference of level: 285m [935'] (302m [991'] uphill and 17m [56'] downhill)

Altitude: between 681m [2234'] and 1008m [3307']

Backward (on the same path)

Time: 1:01

Second hike
Outward:

Time: 0:52

Distance: 2.73km [1.7mi]

Difference of level: 256m [840'] (266m [873'] uphill and 10m [33'] downhill)

Altitude: between 1000m [3281'] and 1266m [4154']

Backward (on the same path)

Time: 0:42

Third hike
Outward:

Time: 1:59

Distance: 7.14km [4.44mi]

Difference of level: 585m [1919'] (612m [2008'] uphill and 27m [89'] downhill)

Altitude: between 681m [2234'] and 1266m [4154']

Backward (on the alternative path, about the same length and altitude)

Time: 2:00

GPS track of the excursions.
A: start at San Marco; B: stone wash-tub; Z: end at Valcava
In red the first excursion, in green the second. In blue the shortcuts on the hiking paths we made during the descent of the third excursion. In yellow the unwanted detour (the yellow and blue tracks were not recorded by the GPS but built on GoogleMap)

Cumulative statistics from the beginning of this year

Total time: 26:33

Distance: 101.29km [62.94mi]

Difference of level: 5522m [18117']

Minimum altitude: 343m [1125']

Maximum altitude: 1550m [5085']

Why to vote for Ignazio Marino at the primary elections of Partito Democratico

2009-09-11T10:22:00.004+02:00

I consider myself "leftish" from since when i was old enough to understand, but i am also very critical towards the Partito Democratico since its foundation a few years ago.
My aversion to PD is in its roots. Its founding fathers, through Veltroni's "Corro da solo" ["i run by myself" - a tactic in which he refused any alliance with other minor parties], have managed to build a big party plundering the votes of the Left. They did it riding an electoral system considered by everyone a terribly unjust thing (so much that its creator Roberto Calderoli himself named it "Porcellum" ["pig thing"]). And they took advantage of the "voto utile" ["useful vote"], that is, the leftists realization of the need to stem the fascist tendency towards which the country was already going. The leftists, therefore, preferred to address the strength of their votes to PD instead of wasting them on a minor party. In fact, votes to parties that obtained less than 4%, for the perverse mechanism of the "Porcellum", ended up enforcing the most voted party (the Berlusconi's and his fascist mates' one).
To tell the truth, for PD, the use of this perverted mechanism would neither be such a bad thing if, other than taking advantage of the votes of those electors, it would also take in charge the task to represent their values.
But no. PD did never assume the responsability to give a voice to the values of the Left. To most people, like me, PD became more like a big set of seats that allowed a soft support to the fat butts of who was already well seated in the parties that originated it. PD has never taken any firm position against Berlusconi's extra-power, just when the Country really needed it and waited till now, in the guilty incapability of giving any alternative to Berlusconi's fascism.

So, it's clear for everyone that the old leadership doesn't represent the Left anymore, and for this reason, even without considering the reasonable suspicion of collusion with the "enemy", it should resign allowing new entries to take their place. But it looks like for those old leaders it is more important to preserve their warm ass on the soft throne than the good for Italians.

Ignazio Marino

In the beloved American democracy, anyway, they do exactly that: respectful goodbyes to the losers. Personally, i liked Al Gore a lot. He lost by a few votes in some elections which results were suspicious. But if he didnt give up America wouldn't ever had Obama - and i doubt that Gore, in his pants, running as a loser, would ever been able to win against McCain.

Ignazio Marino is running for the leadership of PD. I'm not comparing him to Barack Obama here, but it is clear that, while Franceschini and Bersani [the other candidates of PD leadership] have already clearly lost against Berlusconi (which suggests that they will loose again), Marino is the New Way. And this statement is valid without even giving a look to his program.
Reading the program one will be astonished by the strength of his positions, an absolute novelty in the context of PD, even before evaluating the contents, which, incidentally, looks to me reasonable and agreeable for anyone naming himself "leftist".

In fact, the Italian media, totally subservient to Berlusconi, publicizes the PD primary elections as a duel between Franceschini and Bersani, giving no visibility to Marino. Obviously because Berlusconi would prefer an opponent who agrees not to contradict him, in exchange for a peaceful coexistence in the puppet theater.

In short, I believe that the staunch Democrats should support Marino, hoping that upon winning the primary elections, he will be able to defeat Berlusconi at the Political Elections, where the rest of the leadership of PD always failed in the past.
Those like me who flow into PD for the "useful vote", should prefer Marino in the hope that finally some conditions will be created to reconcile the values of the whole Left in one only political force. In this way PD could represent their values, the very same values that the old leadership had failed.
I would also say that the supporters of Italia del Valori [another political party, allied to PD] should like Marino leading PD. This party, in fact, can hardly aspire to govern Italy alone or to find allies other than PD. And it is certainly better to relate to a force that has clear goals rather than a rabble of selfish people like Berlusconi's flunkies.

Dario Franceschini and
Pier Luigi Bersani

Obviously, the leadership of the Right would prefer a "subservient" opposition as the one leaded by Franceschini or Bersani: the weakness of the opposition goes hand in hand with the strength of the majority.
But if I were an elector of the Right, I think i would prefer a minority but viable opposition, which tends to make the Good for the citizens, although with different methods. And pressing the Right to always do the best for the Italians (after all this is the proper task of the opposition, isn't it?).

In short, shouldn't it be in the interest of any voter to have loyal and honest opponents?
At the end I think that Marino, as leader of the new PD, would be good for all Italians, except for some politicians and any kind of corrupted persons.

My contribution to this will be to vote for him at the primary elections October the 25th. Also non-members are allowed to vote, at a cost of 2 euros as a contribution for the expenses.
The mechanism for the election of the Secretary, however, is rather complicated. Here are the rules.
What I understand is that voting is permitted to any Italian citizen, EU or with a valid residence permit. But it looks like these elections are decisive only if one candidate obtains more than 50% of the votes, a result that is not realistic for Marino. Otherwise, the secretary shall be chosen among most voted via secret ballot restricted to the National Assembly. So Marino will likely lose, in which case I think PD will have to manage without my vote.

But a relative majority or even a good success of Marino may be a sign of change and an indication of the will of the electorate - that this time, the usual dinosaurs can not ignore.

I believe that the corrupt and fascist regime in which Italy is falling into is primarily a serious responsibility of the Left, which was unable or unwilling to offer a decent alternative. I think Ignazio Marino is an opportunity to fix the problem.

Daniele Bonfanti: L'Eterno Sogno

2009-09-09T16:34:00.001+02:00

At first sight it looks like a good book.
Minimalist cover, i would say. All black, with an irregular patterned gradient in the lower half and, in gray, the title "L'eterno Sogno" at the top, written with a simple font.
On the side there is the title, again, with the name of the author, Daniele Bonfanti as well as the logo of the editor Lulu.
On the back the white square with the barcode clashes a little, but it's not that bad. As it often happens some notes describe the author and the story, and it looks like those notes are written by the author himself, and not, as it usually is, quoted from reviews.
And what a self-congratulation!
The first note, in italic, pretends to be a reply in the context of an interview:
"Qualcuno dice che il fantasy e' 'letteratura di serie B'... Credo che Omero si stia rivoltando nella tomba." ["Somebody says that Fantasy is 'second-rate literature'... i believe that it would be enough to turn Homer in his grave."]
If with the word "fantasy" we mean a genre whose characters are elves, dwarves and similar, i think i have never heard anyone dare to define... say... Tolkien's trilogy as "second-rate literature". It would be like reducing The Betrothed (Manzoni novel) to a romantic novelette, or the Divine Comedy to Don Camillo's homily [Don Camillo is a funny character of a popular italian comic show in the 60s, playing the role of a priest].
Maybe Bonfanti refers to some detractors of a "lighter" literary current.
I don't know if it makes big sense to throw things like L'Eterno Sogno, Lord of the Rings, brothers Grimm's tales, the saga of Shrek, the Smurfs and the Odyssey in the same literary boat, but of course, all these works tell of fantasy characters (therefore they are Fantasy Literature?!?), and I think this is just a little pretentious.

Okay... one cannot judge a book from the back cover! Especially after my positive earlier judgement of the front and side.

One of the "reader's rights" established by Daniel Pennac ["Comme un roman" (1992), published in English as "The Rights of the Reader"] speaks of the freedom to stop reading a book at any time.
I don't like anyway to take advantage of this right. To tell the truth, there are some books i quit reading well before the end. For example, I gave up with "Thus Spake Zarathustra" by Nietzsche in the preface, or, with "Kant and the Platypus" by Eco, I was not able to overcome chapter 1. But in these and other similar cases, I beat a retreat admitting my incapability (or recognizing excess of pride when i started reading). Those books were too difficult for me, and their understanding would have required more energy than I could spend, without being sure to be able to go on.
It has never happened, instead, to leave a book because i didn't like it.
In fact, if i am passionate about a book, there is no reason to stop. Even if I do not like it, there is always the curiosity, or at least a hope, that reading it would eventually become more interesting further on.

This one is a book that i didn't like, but i continued till the end, hoping to find something worthy in all of it.
In vain.

Language is heavy, style is boring, even the vocabulary is limited and fastidious. It's surprising to note, for example, the massive and unjustified use of the verbs "emergere" and "riemergere" ["to emerge" and "to emerge again"] (also considering that they end up in water in only one episode three or four pages long!). In Daniele Bonfanti's world, the characters emerge from the grass, from the sleep, from the battle, from the cave. Elves' ears emerge from their hair and the Moon emerges from the mountains!
The characters are described only approximately, and you feel this lack of knowing them fully until the end of the book. For example, I couldn't imagine the protagonist dragon much different than Hanna-Barbera's Wally Gator. Which, actually, in a dramatic context like the story of this book, it comes out totally inconsistent. Especially when he flirts with the all-tender pussicat with her beautiful green eyes.
And what about the story! An amount of adventures unrelated to each other, absolutely without any metaphoric meaning and useless for the developement of the main plot. It looks like their role is just to give some action.

The heroes of the novel are four dragons, two elves, two kennins (a sort of cat), a dwarf, a lerlet (a biped horned reptile) and a... mmmh... a hooded guy. During their trip on the Via, following the blow of the Western Wind, they massacre a bounch of bogolids and goblins (evil and disgusting creatures). At the end they arrive to the Gray Town, where they form an alliance with other bogolids and goblins in order to fight against elves and dwarves who, surprisingly, form the army of the bad magician. Inverted parts, then. Why? No idea!
Everything is resolved by the final duel between the dragon Xaas and the magician. Among spells and charms, this last cannot cope with the brutal strength and he dies in the most concrete way: decapitated by a bite with an ax in his chest. I wonder if atleast this fact does have a symbolism that I can not understand!

At the end the dragon manages to close the magic door, from which the Element of Water could come out flooding the world. But he doesn't destroy it, as he was supposed to. Which suggests the future publication of a second part of the story.
Aenasyan forbid!

Here is a sample from the book, where Bonfanti honors us with his fastfood-style theology.
Characters: the elf Aelorn; the girl-kennin Aina; the dragons Dhrek, Xaas and Kab; the dwarf Ghrun.

(...)
Aelorn chiese a Aina: "Ma come un solo dio? Io credo che quello che tu chiami Leone di Fiamma potrebbe essere il vostro Spirito Guida. Ma non puo' essere che esista soltanto il vostro, e' assurdo."
Aina sorrise. "Forse quello che tu chiami Aenasyan e quello che io chiamo Leone di Fiamma sono la stessa cosa, che si mostra con volti diversi."
Aelorn riflette'. "Potrebbe essere come dici. Ma gli altri Spiriti? Ce ne sono centinaia, quanti sono i fiumi e le montagne e le foreste."
Aina scosse la testa. "Noi crediamo che soltanto il dio Sole sia il creatore, e che abbia schiere di demoni a proteggere la sua creazione."
Aelorn annui', ragionando febbrilmente. "Forse questi 'demoni' sono gli Spiriti..."
Dherk chiese, visibilmente incuriosito, rivolto a Aina: "Da quanto dici, questo 'Leone di Fiamma' puo' fare quello che gli pare. E' cosi'?"
"Tutto cio' che vuole, e cioe' cio' che e' bene e cio' che e' giusto."
Xaas scosse la testa. "E perche' non lo fa?"
"Cosa intendi?"
"Ti sembra 'bene' tutto questo?"
"Forse vuole metterci alla prova."
"Complimenti. Bel dio buono. Si diverte a metterci alla prova e per farlo ha proprio bisogno di far morire Kab e Ghrun. Per vedere cosa?"
"Chi puo' dirlo... Lui e' talmente grande che il suo volere per noi e' incomprensibile, a volte..."
"E allora, se non lo capisci, come fai a dire che e' buono, giusto, e tutte quelle cose?"
Aina non ebbe esitazioni. "Per fede."
"Fede? Uno la fiducia dovrebbe meritarsela. Non do fiducia a uno che fa morire i miei amici per mettermi alla prova. Comunque il tuo ragionamento non ha senso. Dici che questo dio vuole il bene. Ma il bene di chi?"
"Di tutti."
"Ma non ha nessun senso. Cio' che e' bene per me sara' il male per un altro. Per noi e' bene uccidere il mago, ma certamente lui non e' d'accordo. Non trovi?"
"Ma c'e' un bene assoluto. E un giusto assoluto."
"E chi le stabilirebbe queste belle cose?"
"Il dio Sole, naturalmente"
"Naturalmente. Allora che le stabilisca per se'. Io preferisco scegliere da solo, senza che mi dicano cosa devo fare, e cosa non devo fare."
(...)

(...)
Aelorn asked Aina: "How come one only god? I believe that who you call Lion of Flame could be your Spirit Guide. But it cannot be that it exists only yours. It's absurd."
Aina smiled. "Maybe what you call Aenasyan and what I call the Lion of Flame are the same thing, which shows itself with different faces."
Aelorn thought. "It could be like that. But what about the other Spirits? There are hundreds of them, as many as rivers and mountains and forests."
Aina shook her head. "We believe that only the god Sun is the creator, and He has legions of demons to protect his creation."
Aelorn nodded, thinking feverishly. "Perhaps these 'demons' are the Spirits..."
Dherk, clearly intrigued, addresses Aina: "From what you say, this 'Lion of Flame' can do what he wants, right?"
"Whatever he wants, which is what is good and what is right."
Xaas shook his head. "So why doesn't He do it?"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you think it's 'good' all this?"
"Maybe he wants to test us."
"Congratulations. What a good god. He enjoys himself testing us and, to do that, he really needs to let Kab and Ghrun die. To see what?"
"Who can say... He is so great that his will is not understandable to us, sometimes..."
"So, if you don't understand, how can you say he is good, right and all those things?"
Aina had no hesitations. "For faith"
"Faith? One has to deserve trust. I don't trust somebody that let my friends die to test me. Anyway your argument doesn't make any sense. You say that this god wants the good. But whose good?"
"Everybody's"
"But it doesn't make any sense. What is good for me would be the evil for somebody else. For us good is to kill the magician, but for sure he doesn't agree. Don't you think?"
"But there is an absolute good. And an absolute just."
"And who is the one that decide these nice things?"
"The god Sun, of course"
"Of course. So, let him decide for himself. I prefer to choose by myself, without others tell me what i have to do, and what i don't have to do."
(...)

English translation of mine.

To be honest, i don't very much like to speak badly about what i don't enjoy. I much prefer to say good about the things i do like.
But in this case, really, irritation for having wasted my precious time is enough to induce me to reconsider my personal interpretation of the rights of the reader. The hope that a book would eventually become more interesting is not a good reason to continue reading.

La Clusaz

2009-09-07T13:31:00.004+02:00

View from the path

The Via Francigena is a route marked by the pilgrims from all over Europe in the heroic enterprise of reaching Rome all the way from Canterbury in England.
Once crossed into France, to overcome the Alps, the path forks. A variant reaches the current Piedmont, Val Susa precisely, the Montgenèvre pass beyond. The high road instead, via Switzerland, reaches the Valle d'Aosta crossing over the pass of the Great St. Bernard. From here, after declining further downstream, it climbs up back to run along the highway, heading to Aosta.
The Via Francigena can be reached by parking the car on the highway.

Mr.B e Maddie and me

We joined it on a path leading from the parking lot of the restaurant La Clusaz, in the homonymous village of Gignod. After a short climb we reach the Via. A stream runs alongside and refreshes the excursion. The walk is flat and without any difficulty, parallel to the highway. At a certain point you cross a paved road on a hairpin bend.

From here the excursion deviates slightly from the path of highway and goes into the countryside, in the forest and cultivated fields. We then reached a bridge over a stream next to a shrine. Getting closer back to the highway we met another paved road. Here we decided to turn back, also not to overstress Maddie, on her first excursion after the operation of the crossed ligament.

The path is really very easy and covering it gives a sense of peace, in lush woods beside the little brook.

Outward:

Time: 1:16

Distance: 7.63km [4.74mi]

Difference of level: 28m [92'] (335m [1099'] uphill e 307m [1007'] downhill)

Altitude: between 1184m [3885'] and 1301m [4268']

Backward (on the same path)

Time: 1:09

GPS track of the excursion.
A: start; B: bridge and shrine; Z: end

Cumulative statistics from the beginning of this year:

Total time: 18:56

Distance: 73.65km [45.76mi]

Difference of level: 4288m [14068']

Minimum altitude: 343m [1125']

Maximum altitude: 1550m [5085']

Teresa Sarti

2009-09-02T09:25:00.003+02:00

(thanks to devex for the photo)

Teresa Sarti passed away.

She was in the "top-ten" of a list that i wanted to write on this blog.
A list of silent heroes, whose passage in the world digs a track. A deep one, although just whispered in the general noise of that circus which is our society.

The quiet echo of her life will never die.
Teresa Sarti is still in the top-ten of my list.

Teresa founded, in 1994, together with her husband Gino Strada, the association Emergency, and since then she's its president.

La Maison du Fromage

2009-08-31T11:17:00.000+02:00

Fontina

Bleu d'Aoste

Capriolo

Grotta

When one enters in a cheese chop what is the most striking thing is the smell.
I love cheese, and i will never understand those people that define "stink" as that wonderful aroma from cheese.
It can be said that from smell, even before sight, one can distinguish a french cheese shop from an italian one. In fact, the french prefer smooth goat cheese, while Italians prefer those hard or half-hard ones made out of sheep or cow milk. In France the fragrance is more sweet and hints more of milk. In Italy a scent of a cellar, mold and hay prevails.

But here at La Maison du Fromage at La Thuile (Ao) there is a different perfume. Most part of proposed cheeses is locally produced, but they also have something coming from France and other parts of Italy. Also some longer-aged cheeses are displayed. The final result, therefore, is a right mixture of scents from different cultures.

Obviously Fontina cheese from this area lords over it.
The fontina cheese i used to know before was the product that usually is commonly sold in stores, and i judged it a cheese a little "banal". Elastic, a little spicy but without a remarkable personality.
Here at La Maison, instead, they proposed an aged Fontina that didn't look at all like the one i used to know, neither for the color (yellowish to browinsh, with irregular crust covered with dark molds), nor for the texture (half-hard, buttery and not elastic at all), or for the smell (bitter, strong and pungent), and for the taste (direct, bitter and spicy hot, with a note of almonds). After a small taste i was convinced to get a good slice.
We also bought a slice of Bleu d'Aoste (with wonderful veins of blue molds, consistent, buttery and spicey), and a couple of cheeses that i didn't know: the Grotta (harder and more aged, crumbly, strong taste), and the Capriolo (fresh smooth cheese made out of goat and cow milk, intense and spicey flavor).

At La Maison there are also other food products. We bought some Arnad lard and some fresh milk. A free white chocolate bar was offered.

La Maison du Fromage
via Collomb, 10
11016 - La Thuile (Ao)

Saint Leonard

2009-08-26T12:14:00.007+02:00

Saint Leonard

La Vieille Cloche

Here i am, back from a short (only four days!) but intense vacation in the Valle d'Aosta region.

We lodged at the wonderful Bed and Breakfast La Vieille Cloche, at Saint Leonard, a small outlying neighborhood in the municipality of Saint Rhémy en Bosses.
The Bnb offers different solutions: we chose the apartment because it also allows the use of a small kitchen although breakfast, in this case, was not included. For the four days the cost was 330€ (80 each night plus 10 for the final cleaning). Dogs allowed. The price doesn't include bed sheets nor bath towels, items that we brought with us, but they are available for rent.
At Saint Leonard, besides the Bnb, there is a bar (the cappuccino is good but the brioches are the prepacked commercial ones), a post office, a church, the small castle and some private houses. It's a little before the Gran San Bernardo tunnel, just after the fork with the road that climbs up to the pass (border with Switzerland).
At the highway junction there is also a restaurant-pizzeria, a little supermarket and a prosciutteria [ham shop] (this is the area of the famous jambon de Bosses). The little village and the surrounding country sides are very quiet and silent, despite the nearby highway.
Saint Rhemy, a little above, along the road of the pass, is a little bigger and typical, and there is the Hotel-Restaurant Suisse, listed on the SlowFood guide, where we lodged (and had dinner!) some years ago.

During this holiday we have seen some interesting things, which i will write about in the next posts. We also made a wonderful hike, short and easy enough also for Maddie, still recovering from the operation of the crossed ligament.

Terracing

2009-08-05T15:15:00.012+02:00

In our small home in the chestnut forest there are two little (unfortunately not communicating) gardens, about 35 square meters [377 square feet] each.

The CAD project

One is situated in the front of the house, and it is enough level. Most of it is cultivated with grass , flowers and a few fruit trees, but we also planted some vegetables and herbs.
We grow most of our vegetables in the other garden in the back, which is kind of difficult because since we live in a mountainous area, the ground yields to a steep slope. Therefore we decided to make some works to be able to make better use of it.
We started to fix this piece of land two years ago, cleaning it from monstrous nettle bushes and other weeds, a thing which revealed also the base of a big chestnut tree still sprouting new branches that we had to cut back.
Then we built a little path with steps and a hairpin bend that allows easy access to the whole garden. We planted some fruit trees (a pear, fig, cherry and a mediar). In the lower part, limited by a wall with reinforced concrete, we leveled an area, cleaned it from the stones and filled it in with good fertile dirt. Last year, besides this flat area, we planted a lot of tomatoes and other vegetables also on the slopes. That gave us a good harvest, even if, there, the work was kind of difficult. For this reason we decided to build some terraces (this year we built the first). Terraces, besides making work much easier in the garden, helps to prevent landslides caused by heavy rains.

Me, building the terrace

Given the success of this first terrace, in the fall i will start to build another one, but a little bigger.

The original idea, copied by some solutions i saw in other gardens, was to secure one or two tree trunks in the dirt, perpendicularily to the direction of the slope, obtaining a kind of step were a flat amount of dirt could accumulate. The project has then evolved in building a real "wall" made of trunks laid upon each other, about 50cm [1.6'] tall, 2meters [6.6'] large, bordered by two other sides about 1 meter [3.3'] long. The result looks like a big box in wood 2 m² [21.5 ft²] wide, clinging to the slope, perfectly flat.

The supporting poles you can see in the photos are four steel pipes 1 meter long, unused material i already had. They stuck out about half a meter from the dirt, so they are buried half a meter. The trunks are sectioned in half. They were obtained from nine pieces two meters long (six for the front part and three, cut in the right sizes, for the sides). Their diameter is 8cm, so the total height is a little less than 50cm. I bought them for 3.50€ each at Leroy Merlin. They were already treated with a chemical protection with a high pressure system, but i preferred to paint them one layer of waterproof paint. The trunks are attached to the poles with some screws. The corners are kept together with some angular metal strap. The total expense was, so, 31.50€ for the wood plus about 10€ for other materials.

The final result, with some veggies already planted and covered with hail-protection netting.

Trattoria Lamarta

2009-07-31T08:17:00.000+02:00

Map of the drive made (click here to enlarge)

I have a deep enough knowledge of Lake Como, especially, since i live there, on the side of Lecco (the setting of the famous novel by Alessandro Manzoni).
In my childhood i spent a lot of summers at Lake Maggiore, and so, somehow, i know that too.
Lake Garda, instead, was still partially unknown. Yes, i had been near to there, i visited some villages in the southern coast like Sirmione, Desenzano, Peschiera. But, although partially in my region, i have never done a thorough visit.
And so, during the weekend 24th to 26th july, R, myself, Maddie and Mr. Bentley begun to remedy this serious gap with a short holiday at Gargnano.
Of course, two days is not enough to explore the subject, but enough to have an idea about how to plan a longer holiday, not only at the lake, but also in the surrounding mountains.
During those days that area was really hot, so, in order to escape from the heat, and also for the curiosity of exploring the surrounding mountains and finding destinations for any interesting hiking paths for future excursions, on saturday evening we decided to drive into an internal road we found on the map.
We were pleasantly surprised by the truly spectacular scenery on a deserted road (looks so far from the busy tourist destinations of lake Garda!). We drove on hairpin bends rolled around canyons and gorges, coasting also the beautiful little artificial lake Valvestino and crossing it on breathtaking bridges.

The road reaches Lake Idro. To avoid also the touristic crowd of this last one, we went a little over, at Treviso Bresciano. That day we decided not to have dinner because a few hours earlier we had a very big lunch. But at that late hour in the night we were beginning to feel the need of a snack. Then the talented fingers of R began to thumb through the pages of the SlowFood guide, finding a good restaurant just right there, in the hamlet Vico. Trattoria Lamarta.
Here we were warmly welcomed, even though they were almost closing (after nine in the evening, there was no longer anybody). We ordered half a liter of red wine and a plate of cured meat of their production, really delicious. Particularly good were their lardo and prosciutto. The latter, then, I was informed that that was not prosciutto, but cured pork rib.
We chatted for a long time with the nice lady. In particular I was amazed how such a nice restaurant could survive in a place so isolated that it was empty already at nine on Saturday night.
The lady told us how, after three generations, the restaurant is still run. Nothing much has changed. Meals are all prepared from their own produced ingredients (and if they are all like those cured meats, it's worth another visit!). In particular they grow pigs and vegetables, but they also have other animals. The menu can differ from day to day but goes according to season, with no choice allowed. One can eat what is cooked that day, which in fact depends upon the butchered animals and the harvested seasonal vegetables. The lady suggests to call before if one wants to know what will be served for dinner or lunch.

We paid 15 euros. Obviously without any receipt. Given the familiar welcome we received from the lady and her kindness keeping open only for us, i didn't feel like demanding it, so it's disappointing to include also this business in my list of tax evaders.

Trattoria Lamarta
via Tito Speri, 56
Localita' Vico
25070, Treviso Bresciano (BS)
Small pets welcome only in the porch outside.

This blog is against tax dodging

2009-07-29T08:22:00.003+02:00

I am a subordinate employee.
And so, regarding income taxes, i pay them.
I have a headache to fill out the modello 730 (the italian tax form) because I want the deductions allowed for having a home loan, and not lose them by having my taxes automatically computed. This operation is not that difficult but, as usual clumsy in bureaucratic stuff, i end up making some errors, that are regularly corrected by the kind girls at the CAAF office (the syndacate section charged to check validity of official documents).
I swear that any error is absolutely unintentional. It wouldn't make any sense in fact to try to be sneaky: the document to attach as a proof of its accuracy is the CUD (a document issued by the employer), and the numbers written on the two forms must be the same.

To tell the truth the accuracy of the data written on the 730 is immediately verifiable only for the incomes for subordinate employment. For instance, i could give private lessons of ancient Greek language, arrange small electricity works, canary petsitting, or teach hang gliding, with regular remuneration, and then i could avoid to declare it as an income. But i don't do any of those activities, believe me.

For sure i don't have the same solidarity feeling as Artemisia, who would like to pay more taxes. Instead i would prefer to pay less. But i am proud to be able to say that i never evade taxes and i am happy to pay till the last penny what is owed, to give my contribution to the community.
I'd only like that also the other members of the same community do the same.
First of all for a social reason. Since the social services are financed by the State through tax revenue, tax evasion means that services are not paid enough (and so performed with worse quality) or, otherwise, that the pressure of taxation increases (obviously for non-evaders).
Moreover, I cannot find a valid reason why, for the same income, whoever is honest will have less money, since he must provide for a part to be paid in taxes.

Italian tax system doesn't allow subordinate employees to evade taxes, while it makes it easy and lightly punished for self-employers and enterpreneurs, for the simple reason that for this last ones it's more difficult to evaluate the income.
Which, of course, doesn't mean that subordinate employees are more honest than the self employers. In fact i know some enterpreneurs that pay till the last cent, while a lot of subordinate employees do not evade only because they don't have the opportunity to, which it's far from a moral acquittal.

The ricevuta fiscale.

The taxation for a commercial business is computed on the base of the sales proceeds, or, in other words, the sum of the money coming from the sale of the products or services commercialized, in the period of one year.
The ricevuta fiscale [receipt for fiscal purposes] is an official document that is issued by the business that contains the total amount paid by the customer, the detail of all the products or services bought, the particulars of the business itself along with a progressive number and the date that unequivocally identify that receipt.
It is double-copied and written (by hand or automatically, in the form of a scontrino fiscale, by the registratore di cassa [a particular calculator/printer]). One copy is given to the customer and the other is kept by the dealer. The set of all the ricevute fiscali issued in one year is so a good enough documentation for computing the sales proceeds.

The most obvious way to evade the taxes, so, is not to issue the receipt at all, after a sale.

I don't believe that the customer should play the role of the inspector. But the receipt, that is a proof of the purchase, is the warranty that the taxes due for that good are paid, and it is a right of the consumer to control that it actually happens.
It's obvious that when a dealer does not give the receipt, in that moment he is evading his taxes. And that is a crime.
After a sale, it's normal that a dealer actually gives the good that was paid by the customer ("I'm not a cheater!"). On the other side, the customer for sure pays the good he bought ("I'm not a thief!"). I cannot understand why they feel it is allowed to pass over the receipt.

I don't know about you, but so often it happens to me that the shopkeeper "forgets" to issue the receipt.
Being that i pay my taxes, this "forgetting" irritates me so much, and when it happens, i expressly ask for a receipt. At that point they issue it, some times with an arrogant reaction. Rarely it happened that they kept refusing.
I believe that, unfortunately, the main part of consumers do not have the same "ball-breaking" nature, and at the end, for each demanded receipt, a lot of others are lost in the guilty oblivion.

I don't believe that there is a particular category of business to point the finger towards. As Maurice in his post notices, if the statistics say that the restaurants are the most impudent tax evaders, that doesn't mean that one can accuse each restaurateur to evade taxes. For example, the only one time we had dinner at Maurice's, the receipt was regularily issued. To say that the restaurant dealers are dishonest is injust towards the honest ones.

And it's just for this reason that, in my opinion, the dishonest ones should be identified. As Maurice says, "Tirate fuori i nomi e non sparate a casaccio sul mucchio" ["Quote the names and don't shoot on the mass"]. No sooner said than done. Today i start a new survey on this blog that reports the commercial business that evade the taxes. Or, atleast, that try to, when it's my turn to pay the bill. The list will appear on a proper section in the right column.

Disclaimer: I'd like to make clear that this report has nothing to do with the quality of the products.

One has to start from somewhere, and so, incidentally, it happens that the first tax evader of the list is the famous Pasticceria Vassalli, Via S. Carlo 84/86 - 25087 Salò (Brescia). R. and i entered last friday morning in the shop. We had a slice of ricotta pie, a "fruit basket" (almond-chocolate wafer filled with fruit and custard), two shakerati, two glasses of mineral water and a small pack of lemon cookies. The lady (i think she's the owner), using the registratore di cassa as a support to write on the notepad, performed the sum by hand and accepted our payment of the bill with credit card. Only after the transaction, when she was already greeting us, i demanded and obtained the receipt.

At Somana, on the Sentiero del Fiume

2009-06-18T13:52:00.009+02:00

[The Path of the River]

June 2nd, 2009.

Little waterfall with an inviting pond

Another waterfall

After Somana (LC), up to the first hairpin bend, there's a crossing with via dell'Acqua Bianca ["White Water road"], start-point of a wonderful excursion. Here there are clear indications for homonimous Bed and Breakfast. There is also a parking lot, but it is really small, and when we arrived it was already full. Going back downhill we finally found a space for the car, adding an extra piece of hike on the asphalted road. As soon as we parked the car we met a nice old man who upon seeing our preparations (backpack, hiking boots, knee-pads, hiking sticks and waterbottle) all of the sudden asked, in a kind of teasing tone, "Where are you going at this time of the day?" (as if to say - at 11am isn't it a bit late to start an excursion?). "Eh, we wanted to go up to the waterfall!" - "Ah, the Sentiero del Fiume! That's ok, at least there should be some shade!". Actually good thing that a good part of the path is in the forest, because the sun that day, was really burning. "Be careful!" he warned, "you'll probably encounter some biscie..." [A biscia is a small, harmless grass-snake in italian country sides]. Now, Grandpa was beginning to be a little too much... "Hey, this way you'll frighten my wife!", I say, to lighten the mood, "...then she'll change her mind and she'll not be wanting to go up anymore". "Oh, well...", he smiles, "you have the sticks to chase them away!", he tries, a little clumsily, to encourage her.
To tell the truth, R. was not frightened at all. Grandpa waves wishing us a good hike. We won't meet any terrible monster (anyway, what's wrong with biscie?). Later we will laugh for his thoughtful suggestions.

Unfortunately Maddie recently broke a crossed ligament and that day she was waiting for the operation. Now she is recuperating and, even if everything will be ok, she still has to wait few months before she'll be able to hike again. Thus, this time she stayed home, and Mr. Bentley decided the same for keeping her company. Good thing, since in some points the path would have been impassable for them.

Entering via dell'Acqua Bianca you can find the first signs, with trail marker n. 15B pointing

I, climbing on a point with chains

to "Sentiero del Fiume" that, along with the red dots painted on the rocks, were a constant help to find our way. The asphalted road, after the last houses of the village, slowly descends on a carriage road. Here we met some animals (donkeys and goats) in a corral. Soon the carriage road becomes a small path and in the ups and downs, it arrives to the level of the river. Here it starts the most scenic part of the excursion, that coast the river and crosses it several times in easy fords. Here you find also some little waterfalls flowing in small ponds, so much tempting that i was almost ready to dive in.

one of the many fords

The hike, in some points, then becomes more difficult. Impossible to pass some tracts without clinging to the chains nailed to the rocks for that purpose. To tell the truth it's not that terrible an experience, if not for somebody like me that suffer for dizzy spells. Once one hangs to the chains it is pretty easy, but the cliff, in some points about a dozen meters high, was not encouraging at all.
The hardest part of the climb is when we arrived to the bottom of the wonderful waterfall Cascata di Era. The path is very steep, the top of the cascade, where path n. 15B ends up crossing with n. 15.
Going right from here, within another fifteen minutes we could go to Alpe di Era (mountain farmhouses) where there is also a small chapel. We cut this part and went back to Somana following the yellow dots along path n. 15. This part of the excursion, more flat, is much easier than the outward. This path dominates, on one side, the canyon where the river flows, and in some points it is possible to see the path 15B we covered before, much lower on the other side.

Niche at one station of the Cross

All of the sudden there is a little church with some rooms that volunteers run as a refreshment point, collecting money for the maintainance of the chapel. Thirsty, we stop by for a coke (the one-liter waterbottle has been dried up a long time before!).
After a quick visit to the cool interior of the church we restart our hike. The last part is a very long descent on irregular steps, marked at intervals by the stations of the Way of the Cross (that, going down, we cover backwards). The path terminates on the main road, at one hairpin bend after the crossing with via dell'Acqua Bianca.

The excursion, although long and hard, doesn't have insuperable difficulties, apart the small tracts with chains. The 15B is anyway labeled with a double E (Expert Excursionists). Since the river can have sudden floods, it is not advisable if there is the risk of rain. Because of the frequent fords (we got water till the ankles) it is suggested to wear waterproof hiking boots.

Outward:

Time: 2:41

Distance: 15.5km [9.63mi]

Difference of level: 591m [1939'] (1146m [3760'] uphill and 555m [1821'] downhill)

Altitude: from 343m [1125'] to 934m [3064']

Backward:

Time: 2:06

Distance: 8.16km [5.07mi]

Difference of level: -591m [-1939'] (214m [702'] uphill and 805m [2641'] downhill)

Altitude: from 934m [3064'] to 343m [1125']

GPS track of the excursion.
In red the outward on path n. 15B, in yellow the backward on n. 15.
A: parking lot; B-C: Era waterfall; D: chapel-refreshment

Cumulative statistics of the 5 excursions from the beginning of this year:

Total time: 16:31

Distance: 58.39km [36.28mi]

Difference of level: 3646m [11962']

Minimum altitude: 343m [1125']

Maximum altitude: 1550m [5085']

Pea festival

2009-06-08T14:46:00.002+02:00

Sunday, May 31st, Casalborgone (TO).

Pea omelette, Voul-au-vent with pea sauce, Lasagne with peas, Gogu (pea-stuffed ravioli) with butter and sage, meat stew with peas.

I, Maddie and Mr. Bentley at Casalborgone

"Madam, has it been a long time since they make this festival?" I ask to the nice elderly woman that is having lunch with another lady friend right in front of us. "Uhm... it could be atleast thirty years" she says thoughtfully. It looks like in these little villages they all know each other, in fact, sitting next to us, an old man that wants to tell us his opinion at any rate intervenes: "No way! it is atleast fifty years!". After that they say something in Piemontese dialect that i cannot understand. Then the lady, facing me again, adds "Here, for this event, in the past they also used to sell a lot of peas. Then the Lancia factory [car industry nereby] came and the young people preferred a reliable job to the pea plantations. They sold up to two-three hundreds quintals [1 quintal = 100kg = 220lb], you know?" and the elderly man "Two-three hundred? They passed also one thousand quintals!". I love chatting with these people! "I heard there are also guided tours in the historical center town. Is it nice to see?". "It's wonderful" she says, "...it's worth to go to see, although, in only 20 minutes by foot you can see everything there is to see" - "20 minutes? - It will take at least one hour and a half if one wants to see really everything!"... and so on, tit for tat for the whole duration of the lunch.

The festival organization is really good, you pay before at the cashier, choosing from the displayed menu, they give you some tickets with the names of the dishes. When you sit at the table, the efficient volunteers for the local tourist board collect those tickets, and soon they come back soon with the chosen plates and drinks.

For the guided tours at the center town, there is an electric tourist train with three or four wagons ("in the past there were 20 wagons" the elderly man ensures). We preferred to go by car to avoid waiting for the next run. The center is actually very small but it looks carved in History. Every garden is full of colored flowers, every lane opens on a new landscape in the Monferrato hills.

At the typical products market we bought a couple of kilos of peas and some other products.

A lovely day passed in a place of peace and harmony.

website

Elections day

2009-06-05T12:36:00.001+02:00

Let's go to vote in a large number and let's try to throw this idiot down from the throne.

La Formaggeria

2009-05-29T13:31:00.007+02:00

Pagliettina

The word "tourism" recalls, besides a rest at the seaside or in the mountain, visits to museums.
Everywhere one happens to be one can find a museum about a particular subject, with the purpose to atone in a display of cultural engagement, every possible concession to laziness and enjoyment, almost it was about a guilt.
Naturally one cannot generalize, but sometimes really really think a museum is only an excuse to give oneself airs of intellectuality, while it's not really needed.
And maybe it's almost as if one justifies some museums, like for example the

Goat tomino

torture instruments in San Gimignano, just to mention one.
Torture instruments!
Shouldn't one be a kind of maniac to visit such a museum?
And what about some fetishism for the visitor of the museum of Umbrella at Gignese?

It obviously depends on the location of the holiday. I am not saying for sure that the Uffizi wouldn't deserve to be visited if one is in Florence, or the same for the Vatican Museums in Rome, or the Louvre in Paris. But to me, in general, museum is kind of boring, i have to admit in a guilty tone.
In general when we are in holiday we prefer to spend our energies in the methodical research of an authentic osteria, a genuine trattoria, an artisan cheese farm. And so, during our holiday in the Cuneo area some times ago (here the excursions), we ended up shopping at La Formaggeria, in Torre Pellice.
Visiting a shop like that one must conclude that, from the cultural point of view, it's not something really different from a museum. Philosophy of Bruna Magnano, that runs the shop, is to refuse commercial mass products and to offer instead niche quality, linked to the territory, trying to divulge the tradition, preserving it from the homologation imposed by the outside world.

Pecorino in must

Ricotta in hay

I believe that this is the right goal of a museum. The only difference is that a museum reminds me of a "moldy" smell, while La Formaggeria, instead, it welcomes the visitor with an attractive scent.

The counter exposes dozens of cheeses from that area, besides other products: fresh pasta, olive oils, various type of preserves... Among our purchases there are the cheese shown in these photos:
- Pagliettina, smooth cheese of mixed cow, goat and sheep milk, strong and acidulous taste
- Aged Goat Tomino, demi-strong, intense and resolute savour
- Pecorino aged in grape must, demi-strong, resolute notes of flavor coming from the must that colors the surface of the crust
- Ricotta aged in hay, demi-strong, salted, taste and smell of hay

La Formaggeria Di Magnano Bruna
Via Arnaud, 6, 10066 Torre Pellice (TO)

Appello in difesa della democrazia, in difesa della Costituzione

2009-05-26T12:00:00.000+02:00

(sorry for the post in Italian)

Sono giornate molto pesanti, in cui le parole gravano come macigni, e se l’argomento di queste parole sono la Democrazia, il Diritto, la Giustizia, il rischio è che questi macigni si trasformino in frane, di quelle che travolgono interi paesi cancellandone la storia, cancellandone la civiltà, rinnegandone l’etica.
Mancano due settimane alle elezioni europee, nel nostro Paese questo appuntamento, a causa delle parole-macigno del capo del governo, rischia di assumere caratteristiche che vanno ben al di là del risultato puramente elettorale.
Una cosa soprattutto assume un importante valore politico: la coesione che travalica le sigle, di un fronte di difesa democratico della Costituzione e delle Istituzioni.
Attualmente sono cinque i soggetti politici che partecipando alla competizione europea possono rappresentare questo fronte: i due cartelli elettorali di sinistra, il PD, IDV-Di Pietro e UDC.
Dei cinque partiti o movimenti il PD è l’unico che, ad oggi, sostiene la campagna dei referendum di riforma della legge elettorale. Nell’eventualità che il referendum passi ci ritroveremmo con un sistema che prevederà premio di maggioranza al partito di maggioranza relativa (non alla coalizione) e innalzamento della soglia minima di sbarramento. Risultano evidenti due cose: che una minoranza del paese, ma in possesso di una maggioranza relativa, avrebbe uno strapotere e una consistente porzione di elettori non avrebbero rappresentanza parlamentare.
In questi giorni è davanti gli occhi di tutti l’inaudito attacco alle istituzioni da parte del capo del Governo. Credo che proseguire sulla strada del referendum sarebbe come iniettare cellule malate in un corpo che già sano non è.
Il PD deve uscire dall’equivoco e riconoscere che il tema del referendum è di fatto superato da una evidente emergenza democratica e che sarebbe un suicidio della democrazia anche solo ipotizzare leggi che diano maggiori poteri agli organismi di governo.
La democrazia è un sistema di governo con evidenti imperfezioni, ma anche con importanti anticorpi che normalmente impediscono la degenerazione. Il nostro compito è quello di far sì che non calino le difese immunitarie insite nella nostra Costituzione.
Una rinuncia da parte del PD ad appoggiare e sostenere il referendum potrebbe inoltre raccogliere il consenso di molti compagni che non riconoscendosi nell’area dei due cartelli elettorali di sinistra, si troverebbero nell’imbarazzo di un voto all’Italia dei Valori, che pur essendo un partito di sicura opposizione a Berlusconi, non rappresenta la cultura di sinistra, o di una astensione, in quanto non si sentirebbero sufficientemente tutelati proprio in funzione del referendum liberticida.

Blog promotori:

A sinistra
il Russo
La Mente persa
L’eco dell’Appennino
Vengo da lontano ma so dove andare

PS. Chi condivide questa richiesta copi e incolli sul proprio blog il post senza aggiungere o togliere nulla possibilmente segnalando l’adesione a uno dei cinque blog promotori o alla seguente mail indemocrazia@yahoo.it

Pick's theorem and youthful loves

2009-05-22T10:22:00.017+02:00

I am a faithful husband.
But there are some old loves that every now and then come back to stimulate and fill my mind, making me live again those emotions that i felt when i used to date them. And so, here i am to savour, once again with renewed strength, those pleasures i was granted of, almost like in the candour of a teen-age flirt.
One of those loves is Mathematics. ;-)

It's thanks to Giovanna and her blog Matematicamedie that i found something of this matter still unknown to me. Infact, i have never heard before about Pick's theorem.
As the teacher Giovanna well explains om her very interesting post, that tells about a wonderful work her class made, Pick's theorem computes in an easy and concise way the area of a polygon built under some particular rules.

To clarify better the problem, let me try with some definitions.

Given a regular grid of points (that we can imagine as the crossings of the lines on a squared paper), a "Pick's segment" is a segment that join two points of the grid without intersecting any other on its path. If we need a segment that lays on an extra point, it is considered like the concatenation of two consecutive segments lying on the same line.
A "Pick's polygon" is a closed concatenation of Pick's segments not self-intersecting.
It's right the area of Pick's polygon that is evaluated by Pick's theorem.

Please note that the non-self-intersection condition is demanded for any area computation.

figure 1

It doesn't make much sense infact to evaluate the area of a self-intersecting polygon.
Moreover the condition for which a segment doesn't have to contain any other point of the grid more than its extrema, doesn't reduce the representation power of the definition. If a polygon has a side cut by a point of the grid, well, in that point one can also consider an additional vertex that generate a straight angle. For example figure 1 shows a Pick's polygon with four vertex and four sides, in different colors, even if it is perfectly superimposable on a triangle.
As Giovanna reveals, Pick's theorem asserts that area A of a Pick's polygon is given by the formula

A = PI + PC/2 -1

dove PI is the number of the "internal" points (or the points of the regular grid that fall in teh internal part of the polygon) and PC is the number of the "contour" points: the ones that fall on the vertices of the Pick's segments - sides of the polygon, or, in other words, the points that lay on the edge.
Clearly this formula is valid if the obtained value is then multiplied by the area of the square that defines the regular grid. To make it more simple, on this post, i consider a grid in which the area of the square is one.
With reference to figure 1, for example, PI is the number of the points painted in blue (7), PC the ones in yellow (4), so the area of the polygon is
A = 7 + 4/2 - 1 = 8
It works. Try and see!

In a comment of the discussion that follows the quoted blog, Giovanna suggests me a couple of links to web pages where there is also the "official" demostration of Pick's theorem. Nevertheless i didn't follow those links, nor i have any intention to do it before submitting this post, because what enchants me of mathematics is not so much the result itself, even when in cases like this the formula has a really charming elegance. And not even i need a concrete proof to believe in the truth of the formula: i trust in Giovanna!
No, what i find irresistible is to use mathematics in order to find a demonstration my own.
Naturally this task is simplified by the fact that i already know which is the result i have to reach and i am already convinced that that result is true. So, i have only to find a right path to reach the goal (without a GPS navigator system ;-)).

Trying to wear the pants of an eventual reader that doesn't know Pick's theorem, i warn now that the rest of this post shows my own demonstration and so, if one is interested to find another one, this is a good point to stop reading.

So...

First of all i find the way to count the internal points in the polygon, the geometrical informations on the vertices given.
I start defining a Cartesian axis system centered in any point of the grid lower and more on the left of the whole polygon (i believe that these last conditions are irrelevant, but, since i can choose, i simplify my own life!).

figure 2

I concentrate now to find an easy way to express the number of the points that are "under" a Pick's segment. With the word "under" i mean that their ordinates are greater or equal to zero and lower than the intersection point between the vertical line and the segment, and, moreover, their abscissa falls between or equal to the abscissae of the segment extrema. In the example shown in figure 2 that is the number of the points painted in yellow.

figure 3

In order to do so, i consider the figure obtained by all the points that are "under" the segment plus all the ones that i obtain rotating the figure of a 180deg angle around the center of the segment. These points are disposed as a rectangle that i name R (an example is given in figure 3).
The number of points belonging to this rectangle si clearly given by the number of points at the base multipled by the number of point in the height.
Naming P1 and P2 the extrema of the segment, and (x1, y1) and (x2, y2) their coordinates, respectively, the computation of the number of points in the rectangle is given by this following formula:
R = (x2 - x1 +1) * (y2 + y1 + 1)

The comuted value R is an even number.

figure 4

Infact, as it is shown in figure 4, R can be divided in three rectangles, marked by colors red, green and blue. Clearly the red and blue rectangles are equal, and so they contain the same number of points. The sum of all those points, so, is even. To show that R is even, then, it is enough to show that the nubmer of points in the green rectangle is also even.
Numbers dx = x2 - x1 and dy = y2 - y1 are prime between each other. Infact if it was not like that, segment between tra P1 and P2 would meet other points of the grid. So, the segment wouldn't match the definition which a point of the grid cannot belong to a Pick's segment, unless one of its extrema. Since dx and dy are prime each other, atleast one of them is an odd number (if both were even, they would have 2 as a common divisor). So, atleast one value between dx+1 and dy+1 is even. It follows that their product is necessarily even, and incidentally that product is right the number of points of the green rectangle. So, R &is even.
Number R can be divided by 2, and the result of that division is given by the number of point "under" the segment plus one. Infact for construction the number of points belonging to R that are "upon" the segment is the same as the number of the ones that are "under", and equal to the half of R subtracted by the ones that are right "on" the segment (the 2 extrema).

figure 5

I am interested now to find the number of points that are under the segment except the last column (as shown, in figure 5, by the points marked in green). This number, that i name Q, is clearly given by
Q = (R-2)/2 - y2
since y2 is the number of points of the last column, and so
Q = (x2 - x1 +1) * (y2 + y1 + 1) / 2 - 1 - y2

figure 6

It easy to verify that this formula is valid also if point P1 lies in a position higher than point P2 or if they are at the same height (that is y1 = y2).
In case P1 lies at the right of P2 (that is x1 > x2), the formula is still valid, except for the result that changed its sign and that also the involved extrema is counted. This result is shown in figure 6.
In this case, infact, the base of the rectangle R is the projection of the segment excluding the extrema, sign-inverted. The formula to count the points
R = (x2 - x1 +1) * (y2 + y1 + 1)
represents so the inverse of the number of points in that rectangle. Note that the area is 0 if x1 = x2 + 1. The first part of the formula Q, (x2 - x1 +1) * (y2 + y1 + 1) / 2, denotes the number of points that are under the segment, excluding the first and the last column, as shown by the points marked in green in figure 6.

figure 7

The second part of the formula Q, -1 -y2, instead, clearly denotes the left column of the points under the segment sign-inverted, counting, this time, also point P2 itself, as shown by the blue points in figure 6. The algebric sum of the two parts, given by gormula Q
Q = (x2 - x1 +1) * (y2 + y1 + 1) / 2 - 1 - y2
then denotes the number of points that are "under" the segment, excluding the rightmost column and counting also the left extrema, the all inverted of sign.

Formula Q is useful to compute, in a concatenation of segments, the number of points that are "under" for the ones that go from left to right, but in the same time "upon" the ones that run right to left. Figure 7 shows the concatenation of two segments left to right: the number of points under the red segment are summed to the number of points under the blue one.

figure 8-1

figure 8-2

figure 8-3

In figures 8-1, 8-2, 8-3 is shown the procedure to algebrically sum the points of two consecutive segments, one left-to-right and the other right-to-left. In 8-1 are shown in red the points for the red segment, positive, in 8-2 in blue the ones for the blue segment, in 8-3 their algebric sum.

figure 9-1

figure 9-2

figure 9-3

figure 9-4

figure 9-5

figure 9-6

In figure 9-1 to 9-6 sequence it is shown the iteration for segments from P1-P2 to P6-P1 (closing the path).
Figures 9-1 and 9-2 show how to sum the contributions of two segments left-to-right, figure 9-3 shows the subtraction of points from the amount obtained in the previous step. In blue it's shown the "negative" points, that is the ones that are subtracted in excess. Those points undo some of the positive ones at point 9-4. In 9-5 and 9-6 are then subtracted the points of the last two, both right-to-left, segments.
The value obtained by the iteration is the number of the polygon's internal points, except two points that are subtracted in excess (extrema P1 and P4), and one that is summed in excess (P3). Considering the reasons for this happening, the conclusion is that the exceeding summed points are the vertices that form "left concavities" (the ones that form a concavity between a right-to-left segment and the next left-to-right one) and, vice-versa, the exceeded subtracted points are the vertices that form "left convexities" (the ones that form a convexity from the previous right-to-left segment and the next left-to-right one).
It's easy to show that, going along the polygon clockwise, the total number of left-concavity vertices is equal to the number of left-convexity vertices minus one, infact, for each "change of direction", sooner or later there must be another change of direction in the opposite way. So, to compute the exact number of points internal to the polygon, if N is the number of left-convexities, we must sum N and subtract N-1, or, in other words, subtract 1.

Considering again the formula for Q, and generalizing on the indices of the points:
Qi = (xi+1 - xi +1) * (yi+1 + yi + 1) / 2 - 1 - yi+1
This is valid for all the n segments of the polygon, varying i on values 1, 2, ..., n. Index n+1 identifies point P1, so that the last segment is the one that join Pn to P1.
Modifying a little this formula, multiplying and collecting:
Qi = (xi+1 - xi) * (yi+1 + yi) / 2 + (xi+1 - xi + yi+1 + yi + 1)/2 - 1 - yi+1
obtaining, then
Qi = (xi+1 - xi) * (yi+1 + yi) / 2 + (xi+1 - xi -yi+1 + yi - 1)/2
I can cut this formula, naming
Ai = (xi+1 - xi) * (yi+1 + yi) / 2
Bi = (xi+1 - xi -yi+1 + yi - 1)/2
and so
Qi = Ai + Bi

The number of polygon's internal points is than given by
PI = (Σi = 1..nQi) +1 = [Σi = 1..n(Ai + Bi)] +1
or:
PI = (Σi = 1..nAi) + (Σi = 1..nBi) +1

Said
A = Σi = 1..nAi
B = Σi = 1..nBi
the conclusion is that
PI = A + B + 1

The portion B can be simplified. Infact
B = Σi = 1..nBi = Σi = 1..n[(xi+1 - xi -yi+1 + yi - 1)/2]
or, in other words
B = [(x2-x1-y2+y1-1) + (x3-x2-y3+y2-1) + ... + (xn-xn-1-yn+yn-1-1) + (x1-xn-y1+yn-1)]/2
Observing the formula written in this way, we note that all the terms xi and yi are canceled each other, and what remains is -1 summed n times, where n is the number of the Pick's polygon sides, which is clearly equal to the number of the points that lie on the edge of the polygon. So
B = -PC/2
and so
PI = A - PC/2 + 1

Now i try to compute the area of the Pick's polygon.

figure 10

In a similar way as above, i consider the Pick's polygon segment by segment. Every segment, if covered left-to right, gives a positive contribution given by the area of the trapezoid formed by the segment itself and its projection on the x-axis, as shown in figure 10. The are of the trapezoid is givne by the sum of the bases (y1 + y2) multiplied by the height (x2 - x1) divided by 2.
Generalizing, then
Ai = (xi+1 - xi) * (yi+1 + yi) / 2

This formula is valid also for the segment that are covered right-to-left, except for the fact that the obtained area is negative, since the height (xi+1 - xi) is negative. The algebric sum of the contribution of all the segment, any verse covered, generates the area of the polygon, as shown in the sequence of figures 11-1 to 11-6.

figure 11-1

figure 11-2

figure 11-3

figure 11-4

figure 11-5

figure 11-6

At any step of the sequence the portion Ai relative to the considered segment, is algebrically summed. In figure 11-3 it is marked in blue the portion that is subtracted in excess, and that is then recovered by the positive area summed at step 11-4.
Summation
Σi=1..n Ai
That computes the area of the polygon, is exactly the portion A of the formula obtained above
PI = A - PC/2 + 1

From this previos we obtain then

A = PI + PC/2 - 1

which is the thesis of Pick's theorem itself.
When i was a student, at this point, one concludes the exercise, enjoying the moment of suffered glory, with the achronym

CVD
("come volevasi dimostrare" = "as one wanted to demonstrate")